IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 27 August 2009
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20090004288
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 and issuance of a DD Form 215 (Correction to DD Form 214 - Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty).
2. The applicant states his service medical records contain evidence of a combat-related injury.
3. The applicant provides:
a. a copy of a SF 600 (Chronological Record of Medical Care);
b. a copy of a SF 513 (Consultation Sheet); and
c. a copy of a Department of veterans Affairs (DVA) Health Summary, dated 12 August 2008.
CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:
1. The applicant enlisted in the Regular Army for 3 years and served from 19 October 1969 through 21 April 1972. He was initially trained and served as a light weapons infantryman, and later served as a wheeled vehicle mechanic.
2. The applicant served in Vietnam from 19 October 1969 through 7 February 1970 as a rifleman with Company C, 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry, 4th Infantry Division. During his Vietnam service, he was awarded the Vietnam Service Medal with 1 bronze service star, the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, and the Combat Infantryman Badge. There are no orders awarding him the Purple Heart; his name does not appear on the Vietnam Casualty Roster; and Item 40 (Wounds) of his DA Form 20 (Enlisted Qualification Record) contains no wound entry.
3. During the processing of this case, a member for the Board staff reviewed the Awards and Decorations Computer Assisted Retrieval System (ADCARS) maintained by the Military Awards Branch of the United States Army Human Resources Command (HRC), which is an index of general orders issued during the Vietnam era between 1965 and 1973. This review failed to reveal any award of the Purple Heart orders on file for the applicant.
4. The applicant returned to the United States and an assignment at Fort Hood, TX from on/about March 1970 through his separation on 21 April 1972. During that period, he went before a Sergeant (SGT/E-5) Promotion Board. His records contain a DA Form 3354-R (Personal Data Sheet), dated 8 March 1971, which awarded him promotion points for, among other things, personal decoration. That form shows he earned no decoration and only one badge, the Combat Infantryman Badge.
5. The applicants service medical records are no longer contained in his Official Military Personnel File; they were probably transferred to the DVA.
6. The SF 600 provided by the applicant indicates he was seen at the Aid Station in Vietnam on 31 August 1969 complaining of a sore finger on his right hand. The medical entry states, Struck in R[ight] proximal interphalangeal joint on 16 August 1969 by possible shrapnel [emphasis added].
7. An orthopedic consult sheet (SF 513), dated 3 September 1969, revealed no shrapnel or other foreign body in his finger.
8. The DVA summary provided by the applicant relates that the medic who worked on his finger in Vietnam and was going to put him in for the Purple Heart got killed.
9. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides, in pertinent part, that the Purple Heart (PH) is awarded for a wound sustained as a result of hostile action. Substantiating evidence must be provided to verify that: (1) the wound was the result of hostile action; (2) the wound required medical treatment; and (3)
the medical treatment was made a matter of official record. The regulation also provides that there is no statute of limitations on requests for award of the Purple Heart.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. The applicant requests a DD Form 215 to show award of the Purple Heart.
2. The applicant has no orders awarding him the Purple Heart and no orders could be located for him in ADCARS; his name is not found on the Vietnam Casualty Roster; and his records contain no evidence of his being wounded.
3. A Personal Data Sheet completed for the applicant post-Vietnam and in anticipation of a promotion board failed to show that he was awarded a Purple Heart, for which he would have received promotion points.
4. The applicants service medical records are not available. The documents he provided allude to a possible shrapnel wound, but no shrapnel fragment was ever located; he simply had a sore finger. This evidence is insufficient to warrant award of a Purple Heart.
5. In order to justify correction of a military record, the applicant must show to the satisfaction of the Board, or it must otherwise satisfactorily appear, that the record is in error or unjust. The applicant has failed to submit evidence that would satisfy this requirement.
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) AR20090004288
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20090004288
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