IN THE CASE OF:	  

		BOARD DATE: 	       30 July 2009

		DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20090003807 


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 correction of his DD Form 214 (Report of Transfer or Discharge) to show a second award of the Air Medal and the Purple Heart.

2.  The applicant states, in effect, that he has award certificates for two awards of the Air Medal.  He also contends that he was told he would receive the Purple Heart for a field treated shrapnel injury sustained on or about 4 February 1968.    

3.  The applicant provides a DD Form 215 (Correction to DD Form 214); two award certificates for the Air Medal; and a copy of 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 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.  The applicant was inducted into the Army of the United States on 27 July 1967.  He served as a light weapons infantryman in Vietnam from 31 December 1967 through 2 August 1969 and was honorably released from active duty on 
2 August 1969 and transferred to the U.S. Army Reserve Control Group (Annual Training) to complete his remaining Reserve obligation.

3.  The applicant’s DD Form 214 does not show the Air Medal or the Purple Heart as authorized awards.   

4.  Headquarters, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) General Orders Number 5726, dated 23 June 1968, show the applicant received the Air Medal for the period December 1967 to May 1968.

5.  There are no orders for a second award of the Air Medal in the available records.

6.  In support of his claim for two awards of the Air Medal, the applicant provided two award certificates for the Air Medal.  One certificate, dated 23 June 1968, is for the period December 1967 to May 1968.  The other certificate, dated 
1 December 1968, is for the period December 1967 to July 1968.  

7.  There is no evidence in the available records which shows that the applicant was awarded the Purple Heart or was wounded as a result of hostile action in Vietnam.

8.  The applicant's DA Form 20 (Enlisted Qualification Record) does not show entitlement to the Purple Heart and item 40 (Wounds) on his DA Form 20 is blank.  The applicant's name does not appear on the Vietnam Casualty Roster.

9.  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 for the Air Medal or the Purple Heart.

10.  A DD Form 215, dated 27 February 2009, amended the applicant's DD Form 214 by adding the Air Medal. 

11.  U.S. Army Vietnam Regulation 672-1 (Decorations and Awards) provided, in pertinent part, guidelines for award of the Air Medal.  It established that passenger personnel who did not participate in an air assault were not eligible for the award based upon sustained operations.  It defined terms and provided guidelines for the award based upon the number and types of missions or hours.  Twenty-five category I missions (air assault and equally dangerous missions) and accrual of a minimum of 25 hours of flight time while engaged in category I missions was the standard established for which sustained operations were deemed worthy of recognition by an award of the Air Medal.  However, the regulation was clear that these guidelines were considered only a departure point.

12.  Combat missions were divided into three categories.  A category I mission was defined as a mission performed in an assault role in which a hostile force was engaged and was characterized by delivery of ordnance against the hostile force, or delivery of friendly troops or supplies into the immediate combat operations area.  A category II mission was characterized by support rendered a friendly force immediately before, during or immediately following a combat operation.  A category III mission was characterized by support of friendly forces not connected with an immediate combat operation but which must have been accomplished at altitudes which made the aircraft at times vulnerable to small arms fire, or under hazardous weather or terrain conditions.

13.  To be recommended for award of the Air Medal, an individual must have completed a minimum of 25 category I missions, 50 category II missions, or 100 category III missions.  Since various types of missions would have been completed in accumulating flight time toward award of an Air Medal for sustained operations, different computations would have had to be made to combine category I, II, and III flight time and adjust it to a common denominator.

14.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides, in pertinent part, that Arabic numerals are now used instead of oak leaf clusters for the second and succeeding awards of the Air Medal.  The numeral 2 denotes the second award of the Air Medal.

15.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 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 medical personnel, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.  

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  Orders show the applicant received the Air Medal for the period December 1967 to May 1968 and his DD Form 214 was amended to show this medal.  In the absence of orders for a second award of the Air Medal, the award certificate for the Air Medal for the period December 1967 to July 1968 provided by the applicant is insufficient as a basis for amending his DD Form 214 to show two awards of the Air Medal.   

2.  There is no evidence of record which shows that the applicant was wounded as a result of hostile action in Vietnam.  Regrettably, there is insufficient evidence on which to base 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)                                         AR20090003807





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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20090003807



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