IN THE CASE OF:	  

		BOARD DATE:	  14 September 2010

		DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20100010597 


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, in effect, that his records do not reflect his award of the Purple Heart; however, he distinctly remembers a field ceremony in which he was awarded the Purple Heart.

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 Syracuse, New York, on 4 October 1966.  He completed his basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and his advanced individual training as an ordnance supply specialist at Fort Lee, Virginia, before being transferred to Hawaii on 8 March 1967.

3.  The applicant was initially assigned as a supply specialist in Company D, 4th Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 11th Infantry Brigade, and on 7 November 1967 he began on-the-job training as a light weapons infantryman.

4.  On 5 December 1967, he was transferred to Vietnam with his unit.  His records show that on 13 January 1968 he sustained fragmentation wounds to his right foot and left buttocks.  Although there is no evidence in the available records to show that he was awarded the Purple Heart, his name is listed on the Vietnam casualty listing as being wounded on 13 January 1968.

5.  He was advanced to pay grade E-4 on 22 May 1968 and on the same date he was transferred to Company C, 5th Battalion, 46th Infantry Regiment, 198th Infantry Brigade.

6.  He departed Vietnam on 20 September 1968 and was transferred to Fort Lewis, Washington, where he was honorably released from active duty (REFRAD) on 23 September 1968 as an overseas returnee.  He had served 1 year, 11 months, and 20 days of total active service and his DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge) issued at the time of his REFRAD shows he was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal (VSM), and the Combat Infantryman Badge.

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, failed to reveal an order awarding the applicant the Purple Heart.  The available records do not contain the applicant's medical records as they were loaned to the Department of Veterans Affairs in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1975.

8.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides 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.

9.  Army Pamphlet 672-3 (Unit Citation and Campaign Participation Credit Register) was published to assist commanders and personnel officers in determining or establishing the eligibility of individual members for campaign participation credit, assault landing credit, and unit citation badges awarded during the Vietnam Conflict.  Table 1 (Army Units in Numerical Order) of the pamphlet indicates that the applicant's unit was subsequently awarded the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross (RVNGC) with Palm Unit Citation during the period he was assigned to the unit.  Additionally, he participated in four campaigns while assigned to Vietnam and thus is entitled to be awarded four bronze service stars for wear on his already-awarded VSM.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  Although there are no orders in the available records to show the applicant was awarded the Purple Heart, the available evidence does show that he was reported as a casualty on 13 January 1968 and his records indicate that his wounds consisted of fragmentation wounds.

2.  Additionally, the applicant claims he was awarded the Purple Heart in a field ceremony in Vietnam and, given the available evidence, it is reasonable to presume that such was the case.  In any event, the applicant should be given the benefit of the doubt and his award of the Purple Heart should be added to his records at this time.

3.  Additionally, his records should be corrected to show his awards of the RVNGC with Palm Unit Citation and four bronze service stars for wear on his already-awarded VSM.

BOARD VOTE:

___x____  ___x____  ___x____  GRANT FULL RELIEF 

________  ________  ________  GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF 

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION:

1. The Board determined the evidence presented is 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 amending his DD Form 214 to add the Purple Heart and the RVNGC with Palm Unit Citation and to show four bronze service stars for wear on his already-awarded VSM.
2.  The Board wants the applicant and all others to know that the sacrifices he made in service to the United States during the Vietnam War are deeply appreciated.  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)                                         AR20100010597



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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20100010597



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