IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 13 AUGUST 2009
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20090004818
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 award of the Combat Infantryman Badge and the Purple Heart.
2. The applicant states that he was given written documentation of the Combat Infantryman Badge while serving in Vietnam in September 1967 and that he had a hard copy but later all of his personal items were lost while he was hospitalized. He claims that the Purple Heart was presented to him while he was a patient in the 106th General Hospital in Japan, that he was awarded the Purple Heart for wounds received in action on or about 14 October 1967 while engaged in a fire fight, that his wound was not treated for several days after the initial fire fight, and that he had just returned to his company when he was injured on 28 October 1968.
3. The applicant provides no additional documentary evidence 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 was inducted into the Army of the United States on 17 March 1967. He was awarded military occupational specialty (MOS) 11B (light weapons infantryman). He served in MOS 11B assigned to Company B, 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry of the 4th Infantry Division in Vietnam from 14 September 1967 until he was injured on 28 October 1967 (he was a passenger on an armored personnel carrier (APC) on convoy and when the APC made a turn he fell off and was run over by the APC) and hospitalized at the 106th General Hospital in Japan on 19 November 1967. On 16 December 1968, the applicant was released from active duty and placed on the Temporary Disability Retired List the following day.
3. The applicants DD Form 214 does not show the Combat Infantryman Badge or the Purple Heart as authorized awards.
4. There is no evidence in the available records which show that the applicant was awarded the Purple Heart or was wounded as a result of hostile action in Vietnam.
5. 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.
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 for the Purple Heart.
7. There are no orders for the Combat Infantryman Badge in the applicants service personnel records.
8. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides, in pertinent part, that the Combat Infantryman Badge is awarded to infantry officers and to enlisted and warrant officer persons who have an infantry MOS. They must have served in
active ground combat while assigned or attached to an infantry unit of brigade, regimental or smaller size.
9. 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 military medical personnel, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. Although the evidence of record shows the applicant held and served in an infantry MOS in Vietnam, there is no evidence of record which shows he served in active ground combat while an assigned member of an infantry unit of brigade or smaller size in Vietnam. In addition, there are no orders for the Combat Infantryman Badge. Therefore, there is insufficient evidence on which to base award of the Combat Infantryman Badge in this case.
2. There is no evidence of record which shows that the applicant was wounded as a result of hostile action in Vietnam. Therefore, 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.
_______ _ XXX_______ ___
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) AR20090004818
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20090004818
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