IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 8 October 2009
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20090008783
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 he was denied award of the Purple Heart in Vietnam, but he was struck in the forehead by a helicopter blade.
3. The applicant provides a copy of Standard Form (SF) 89 (Report of Medical History).
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, and 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 enlisted in the Regular Army on 12 September 1968. He completed basic combat and advanced individual training and was awarded military occupational specialty 67M (Aircraft Mechanic and Repairman). He was honorably released from active duty on 11 June 1971. He served in Vietnam from 19 January 1970 through 7 December 1970.
3. There are no indications in the applicants service record or in Army records to confirm he was wounded in action in Vietnam.
a. The applicants medical records are not available.
b. The applicants DA Form 20 (Enlisted Qualification Record) has a block for wounds and a block for awards; the wounds block contains no entry, and the awards block does not show the Purple Heart as an authorized award.
c. There are no orders in the applicants record awarding him the Purple Heart.
d. The applicants name does not appear on the Vietnam Casualty Roster.
4. The SF 89 provided by the applicant shows, in Item 39 (Physicians Summary) that the applicant had a Laceration to forehead 1970, in service.
5. 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 Purple Heart orders on file for the applicant.
6. 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: (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. During the Vietnam War, US Army Vietnam (USARV) Regulation 672-1 (Decorations and Awards) provided for award of the Purple Heart. It stated that Soldiers who were treated and returned to their units within 24 hours of being wounded would be awarded the Purple Heart by their unit of assignment. For wounded Soldiers requiring hospitalization in excess of 24 hours or medical evacuation from Vietnam, the authority to award the Purple Heart was delegated to hospital commanders.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. The applicant requests award of the Purple Heart based on a laceration to his forehead, which he attributes to a helicopter blade.
2. In order to receive the Purple Heart, a wound must have been the result of hostile action; it must have required medical treatment; and the treatment must have been documented. There is no evidence concerning how the applicants forehead came to suffer a laceration.
3. 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.
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