DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20090001981 


THE BOARD CONSIDERED THE FOLLOWING EVIDENCE:

1.  Application for correction of military records (with supporting documents provided, if any).

2.  Military Personnel Records and advisory opinions (if any).


THE APPLICANT'S REQUEST, STATEMENT, AND EVIDENCE:

1.  The applicant requests award of the Purple Heart.

2.  The applicant states, in effect, that the Purple Heart is not listed on his
DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge).

3.  The applicant provides a copy of his DD Form 214, separation physical, unit orders, and a summary of his Compensation and Pension Examination Hospital Summary from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  Title 10, U.S. Code, section 1552(b), provides that applications for correction of military records must be filed within 3 years after discovery of the alleged error or injustice.  This provision of law also allows the Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) to excuse an applicant’s failure to timely file within the 3-year statute of limitations if the ABCMR determines it would be in the interest of justice to do so.  While it appears the applicant did not file within the time frame provided in the statute of limitations, the ABCMR has elected to conduct a substantive review of this case and, only to the extent relief, if any, is granted, has determined it is in the interest of justice to excuse the applicant’s failure to timely file.  In all other respects, there are insufficient bases to waive the statute of limitations for timely filing.


2.  Records show the applicant enlisted in the Regular Army on 19 March 1962.  The applicant served in the Republic of Vietnam from 18 April 1966 through        3 September 1968.  He was honorably discharged from active duty on                 4 September 1968.

3.  Unit Orders Number 4, dated 8 March 1968, show that the applicant and two other Soldiers assigned to the company were appointed to perform additional duties as Materiel Readiness Expediters.  The applicant made an annotation on the order that the two Soldiers were also aware of his wounding.

4.  In block 33 of the applicant's separation physical, "Have you ever had any illness or injury . . . " dated 4 September 1968, he wrote that he was wounded while serving in Vietnam.  "I was hit in the left side of the chest."

5.  The VA's Compensation and Pension Exam Hospital Summary shows that on 26 March 1969, the applicant was admitted with a chief complaint of pain at left ankle area where he had an old gunshot wound.  He also requested an x-ray of his chest.  The x-ray showed a small metallic foreign body in the left hilar (lung area) and lobe area.  The x-ray of the ankle was not remarkable.  

6.  On 12 May 1969, the compensation exam stated that the applicant said he received a gunshot wound in the left upper chest on 31 January 1968.  He was examined and a bandage placed on his chest.  He added that when he refused hospitalization, he was permitted to return to duty.  He said at the time of the wound he coughed up blood.  The applicant explained that some of the men in Company A were on patrol when he encountered the enemy and the firing started.  He offered that he got wounded when a mass of bullets hit a stone wall and the shrapnel entered the left side of his face and left chest.  He said a medical evacuation helicopter took him to the 24th Evacuation Hospital in Long Binh where he was x-rayed, treated and dismissed to his unit.  

7.  On 30 June 2003, the summary stated that the applicant said he never had a gunshot wound to the ankle.  The applicant stated that while in Vietnam at the end of January or early February 1968, he was in an incident where a gunshot was fired at a concrete wall near him and the shrapnel went into his left axilla.  The applicant added that he went to the hospital and was treated with a bandage.

8.  Item 24 (Decorations, Medals, Badges, Commendations, Citations, and Campaign Ribbons Awarded or Authorized) of the applicant's DD Form 214 does 

not show award of the Purple Heart.  The applicant's military service records do not contain any general orders awarding him the Purple Heart.  The applicant's name is not listed on the Vietnam casualty roster.

9.  There is no documentation in the available records which shows that the applicant sustained wounds or was treated for wounds incurred as a result of hostile action.

10.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides, in pertinent part, that the Purple Heart is awarded for a wound sustained as a result of hostile action.  Substantiating evidence must be provided to verify that the wound was the result of hostile action, the wound must have required treatment by a medical officer, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1. The applicant provided his 1969 Compensation and Pension Examination Hospital Summary in which he recounts being wounded by shrapnel in his face and chest.  However, in 2003 the applicant offered that he was wounded as a result of a gunshot being fired at a concrete wall near him.  Nevertheless, a summary of  the applicant's complaints recorded for a VA claim is not sufficient evidence to conclude that he is entitled to the award of the Purple Heart.

2.  There are no general orders available which awarded the applicant the Purple Heart.  There are no medical records available which show that the applicant was wounded or treated for wounds as a result of hostile action during his service in Vietnam.  In the absence of such evidence, there is insufficient basis for award of the Purple Heart in this case.

BOARD VOTE:

________  ________  ________  GRANT FULL RELIEF 

________  ________  ________  GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF 

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

__x_____  ___x____  ____x___  DENY APPLICATION





BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION:

The evidence presented does not demonstrate the existence of a probable error or injustice.  Therefore, the Board determined that the overall merits of this case are insufficient as a basis for correction of the records of the individual concerned.




      _______ _   _x______   ___
               CHAIRPERSON
      
I certify that herein is recorded the true and complete record of the proceedings of the Army Board for Correction of Military Records in this case.



ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20090001981





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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20090001981



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