BOARD DATE: 22 September 2009
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20090006989
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.
2. The applicant states that his first sergeant recommended him for the award of the Purple Heart. However, he feels that his paperwork did not get to the proper person prior to his discharge from the Army and the Purple Heart was never added to his DD Form 214 (Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty).
3. The applicant provides a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Beneficiary Identification and Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) Data printout.
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. Records show the applicant enlisted in the Regular Army on 2 February 1977.
He was credited with 3 years and 2 months of net active duty service with 1 year, 11 months, and 26 days of foreign service. The applicant was honorably released from active duty on 8 April 1980.
3. The VA BIRLS Data shows the date the applicant entered active duty as 2 February 1977, his separation date as 8 April 1980, and his total active service as 3 years and 2 months. The entries for severance pay and Purple Heart are blank.
4. Item 13 (Decorations, Medals, Badges, Citations, and Campaign Ribbons Awarded or Authorized) of the applicant's DD Form 214 does not show award of the Purple Heart. The applicant's military service records do not contain any general orders awarding him the Purple Heart.
5. Item 5 (Oversea Service) of the applicant's DA Form 2-1 (Personnel Qualification Record) shows that he was assigned to Germany from 15 May 1977 to 10 May 1979. Item 9 (Awards, Decorations, and Campaigns) shows the Army Good Conduct Medal, Expert Marksmanship Qualification Badge with Rifle Bar (M-16), and Expert Marksmanship Qualification Badge with Hand Grenade Bar, and is consistent with the information contained on his DD Form 214.
6. There is no documentation in the available records which show that the applicant sustained wounds or was treated for wounds incurred as a result of hostile action.
7. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) 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 a medical officer, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
There are no medical records available which show that the applicant was wounded or treated for wounds as a result of hostile action. In the absence of such evidence, there is insufficient basis for 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) AR20090006989
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