IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 2 March 2010
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20090016942
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 that his records be corrected to reflect his award of the Purple Heart.
2. The applicant states that he fell off of a pole while working on wiring due to receiving gun fire from a nearby village and received multiple injuries for which he was awarded the Purple Heart. He goes on to state that he received the certificate for the Purple Heart that was lost over the years; however, it is not shown on his DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge).
3. The applicant provides no additional documents with 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 applicant's 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 applicant's 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 in Roanoke, Virginia, on 2 June 1969. He completed his basic training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and his advanced individual training as a wireman at Fort Ord, California, before being transferred to Vietnam on 12 December 1969. He was advanced to the pay grade of E-4 on 6 August 1970.
3. He departed Vietnam on 17 November 1970 for assignment to Fort Knox, Kentucky, where he remained until he was honorably released from active duty (REFRAD) on 14 July 1971 due to the expiration of his term of service. He had served 2 years and 1 day of total active service and had 43 days of lost time due to being absent without leave.
4. His DD Form 214 issued at the time of his REFRAD shows that he was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, and the Vietnam Campaign Medal.
5. A review of the Vietnam casualty listing failed to show that the applicant was ever reported as a casualty.
6. A review of his official military personnel file failed to show any indication that he had ever been awarded the Purple Heart or that he was wounded or injured as a result of enemy action.
7. A search of the U.S. Army Human Resources Command Awards and Decorations Computer-Assisted Retrieval System, a web-based index containing roughly 611,000 general orders issued between 1965 and 1973 for the Vietnam era, also failed to produce an order awarding the applicant the Purple Heart. Awards of the Purple Heart must be announced in general orders.
8. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides, in pertinent part, that the Purple Heart is awarded for a wound sustained while in action against an enemy or 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. While the sincerity of the applicant's claim that he was awarded the Purple Heart when he was injured while in Vietnam is not in question, there simply is no evidence in the available records to show that he was injured as a result of enemy action and that the treatment for his injuries was made a matter of record.
2. Likewise, there are no orders awarding him the Purple Heart available. Therefore, in the absence of such evidence, there appears to be no basis to add the award of the Purple Heart to his records at this time.
3. In order to justify a 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:
1. 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.
2. The Board wants the applicant and all others concerned to know that this action in no way diminishes the sacrifices made by the applicant in service to the United States during the Vietnam War. The applicant and all Americans should be justifiably proud of his service in arms.
____________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) AR20090016942
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20090016942
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