IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 22 September 2009
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20090008403
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 he was wounded in action on 3 December 1968. He contends that he was hit by shrapnel and sustained wounds to his neck, right arm and right foot.
3. The applicant provides no 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 2 March 1967. He served as an infantryman in Vietnam from 4 November 1967 until he was injured on 3 December 1967 and transferred to the United States on
6 January 1968 for further medical treatment. On 28 February 1969, he was released from active duty and transferred to the U.S. Army Reserve Control Group (Annual Training) to complete his remaining service obligation.
3. The applicants DD Form 214 does not show the Purple Heart as an authorized award.
4. There are no orders for the Purple Heart in the available records.
5. Item 40 (Wounds) on the applicant's DA Form 20 (Enlisted Qualification Record) shows he sustained fragment wounds to his head, back, right arm, and right leg on 5 December 1967.
6. A Clinical Record Cover Sheet, dated 10 March 1968, states, in pertinent part, that the applicant sustained multiple fragment wounds to his right leg, arm and head on 3 December 1967. He was injured when a grenade accidentally exploded in Vietnam.
7. A DA Form 2173 (Statement of Medical Examination and Duty Status), dated 10 March 1968, states, in pertinent part, that the applicant was injured on
3 December 1967 and sustained multiple fragment wounds to his body. Item
15 (Details of Accident or History of Disease) on this form states that a grenade accidentally exploded.
8. 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 Purple Heart.
10. 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 medical personnel, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. Although the applicant contends that he was wounded in action, on
3 December 1968, there is no evidence of record which shows he was in Vietnam on that date.
2. Medical evidence of record shows the applicant was accidentally injured in Vietnam on 3 December 1967, not as a result of hostile action. There is no evidence in the applicant's service personnel record which shows that he was wounded or injured as a result of hostile action in Vietnam. Regrettably, there is insufficient evidence on which to award 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 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.
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