IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 30 July 2009
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20090003229
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 that his DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge) be corrected by adding the Purple Heart.
2. The applicant states he was aboard a Huey helicopter that crashed and resulted in him being hospitalized for 2 weeks.
3. The applicant provides his DD Form 214 in support of his application.
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 applicants 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 applicants failure to timely file. In all other respects, there are insufficient bases to waive the statute of limitations for timely filing.
2. The applicant's military records show that he was inducted into the Army on 23 April 1968, was awarded the military occupational specialty of light weapons infantryman, and was promoted to pay grade E-4.
3. The applicant served in Vietnam from 18 March 1969 to 17 March 1970.
4. The applicant's DA Form 20 (Enlisted Qualification Record), Item 40 (Wounds) is blank. Item 41 (Awards and Decorations) does not list the Purple Heart.
5. The applicant's military records do not contain orders awarding him the Purple Heart.
6. Review of the Awards and Decorations Computer-Assisted Retrieval System (ADCARS), an index of general orders issued during the Vietnam era between 1965 and 1973 maintained by the Military Awards Branch of the United States Army Human Resources Command, failed to reveal any orders awarding the applicant the Purple Heart.
7. The applicant's name is not contained on the Vietnam Casualty List.
8. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides that the Purple Heart is awarded for wounds 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 does not provide any evidence to show that he was wounded as a result of hostile action.
2. There are no orders awarding him the Purple Heart in his records, and his DA Form 20 does not show that he was wounded.
3. There are no orders awarding the applicant the Purple Heart on ADCARS and his name is not contained on the Vietnam Casualty List.
4. In view of the foregoing, the available evidence is insufficient to award the applicant the Purple Heart.
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) AR20090003229
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20090003229
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