IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 27 May 2009
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20090004939
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 reconsideration of his earlier request for correction of his military records to show award of the Purple Heart.
2. The applicant states, in effect, that despite the Board's denial of his request, he believes he is deserving of the award of the Purple Heart. His request was denied because there is no record of the wound. To clarify, the applicant states that he was hit in the helmet with shrapnel. At the same time, he was bleeding from the mouth. It was very cold, and the bleeding eventually stopped. His superior officer told him to keep moving. His wound went untreated. There is no one known to still be alive who could verify that the applicant was indeed hit in the mouth by shrapnel.
3. The applicant provides, in support of his reconsideration, a letter from his prosthodontist and a panoramic radiograph showing shrapnel embedded in his left mandible.
CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:
1. Incorporated herein by reference are military records which were summarized in the previous consideration of the applicant's case by the Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) in Docket Number AR20080000596, on 22 April 2008.
2. The dentist's letter and panoramic radiograph are new evidence that require consideration by the Board.
3. The original Board proceedings state that the applicant's contentions were based on his recollection of events and not from a review of any medical records or other official documents. The applicant's prosthodontist confirmed that the applicant had shrapnel in his jaw but cannot show how or when it occurred. There was no other documentary evidence substantiating that the applicant was wounded in action or that he had received any medical treatment for any such wounds.
4. The prosthodontist's letter, dated 25 November 2008, states that the applicant was examined on 13 November 2007 and that a panoramic radiograph shows a foreign body attached to his left mandible. Upon questioning, the applicant stated that he had been hit and bled in World War II but had not received any medical treatment. The attached radiograph clearly shows the foreign body.
5. Army Regulation 600-45 (Decorations), then in effect, which governed the award of Army decorations until 23 August 1951, stated that for the purpose of considering an award of the Purple Heart, a wound is defined as an injury to any part of the body from an outside force, element, or agent sustained while in action in the face of the armed enemy or as a result of a hostile act of such enemy, providing such wound necessitated treatment by a medical officer.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. The applicant acknowledged in his application that he did not receive medical treatment for his wounds. The governing regulation authorized award of the Purple Heart for wounds from an outside force, element, or agent sustained while in action in the face of the armed enemy or as a result of a hostile act of such enemy, providing such wound necessitated treatment by a medical officer.
2. Regrettably, in view of the above the applicant did not meet the eligibility criteria for award of 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 to amend the decision of the ABCMR set forth in Docket Number AR20080000596, dated 22 April 2008.
_______ _ _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.
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