IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 14 October 2009
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20090008973
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, as the widow of a deceased former service member (FSM), requests that her late husband be awarded the Purple Heart.
2. The applicant states, in effect, that the FSM's DD Form 214 (Report of Separation from the Armed Forces of the United States) shows he sustained injuries to his buttocks and left leg as a result of action with enemy forces.
3. The applicant provides copies of the FSM's DD Form 214, four letters he wrote her while he was hospitalized, and his death certificate in support of her 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 FSMs military records are not available to the Board for review. A fire destroyed approximately 18 million service members records at the National Personnel Records Center in 1973. It is believed that the FSMs records were lost or destroyed in that fire. However, there were sufficient documents remaining in a reconstructed record for the Board to conduct a fair and impartial review of this case.
3. The FSM was inducted on 4 January 1951. He served in Korea and was honorably discharged on 3 October 1952.
4. The FSM's DD Form 214 shows the Korean Service Medal with two bronze service stars, the Combat Infantryman Badge, and the United Nations Service Medal as authorized awards. Item 29 (Wounds Received as a Result of Action with Enemy Forces) of his DD Form 214 shows the entry "LWA SFW Buttocks & Left Leg Dtd 16 Sep 51" indicating the FSM was lightly wounded in action by shrapnel fragment wounds to his buttocks and left leg on 16 September 1951.
5. There are no orders for the Purple Heart in the available records.
6. The Korean casualty roster shows the FSM was wounded on 14 September 1951.
7. The Office of the Surgeon General Hospital List shows the FSM was hospitalized on 17 September 1951 in Korea for wounds to his leg, intestines, buttocks, and hip as a direct result of action by an organized enemy. The causative agent was a grenade.
8. 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 military personnel, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.
9. Army Regulation 600-8-22 provides, in pertinent part, that the National Defense Service Medal is awarded for honorable active service for any period between 27 July 1950 and 27 July 1954, 1 January 1961 and 14 August 1974, 2 August 1990 and 30 November 1995, and 11 September 2001 and a date to be determined.
10. Army Regulation 600-8-22 states that the Republic of Korea War Service Medal (ROKWSM) is awarded to members of the U.S. Armed Forces who served in Korea and adjacent waters between 25 June 1950 and 27 July 1953. The service prescribed must have been performed as follows:
a. while on permanent assignment,
b. while on temporary duty within the territorial limits of Korea or on waters immediately adjacent thereto for 30 consecutive days or 60 nonconsecutive days, or
c. while as crew members of aircraft in aerial flight over Korea participating in actual combat operations or in support of combat operations.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. Although there appears to be a discrepancy on the actual date the FSM was wounded in action in Korea, the entry in item 29 of the FSMs DD Form 214 which shows he was wounded on 16 September 1951 is accepted as sufficient evidence on which to posthumously award him the Purple Heart and to amend item 27 (Decorations, Medals, Badges, Commendations, Citations, and Campaign Ribbons Awarded or Authorized) of his DD Form 214 to show award of the Purple Heart.
2. The FSM served a period of qualifying service for award of the National Defense Service Medal and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal. Therefore, item 27 of his DD Form 214 should be corrected to show these medals.
BOARD VOTE:
___X___ ____X___ ___X____ GRANT FULL RELIEF
________ ________ ________ GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF
________ ________ ________ GRANT FORMAL HEARING
________ ________ ________ DENY APPLICATION
BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION:
The Board determined that the evidence presented was sufficient to warrant a recommendation for relief. As a result, the Board recommends that all Department of the Army records of the individual concerned be corrected by:
a. posthumously awarding to him the Purple Heart for wounds received in action on 16 September 1951 in Korea;
b. issuing the Purple Heart to the applicant; and
c. adding the Purple Heart, the National Defense Service Medal, and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal to his DD Form 214.
___________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) AR20090008973
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