BOARD DATE: 12 January 2011
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20100017811
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, in effect, on 6 July 1967 he was performing the duties of an M-60 machine gunner with 7th Battalion, 13th Artillery. He also states the helicopter he was riding in crashed while enroute to the 1st Cavalry and he was medically evacuated and kept overnight before returning to his unit the next day. He maintains he did not know what caused the crash, but he was told the helicopter was returned in a sling and it was shot full of holes.
3. The applicant provides a copy of a DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge) and his self-authored statement.
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's military records show he enlisted in the Regular Army on
8 August 1966. He served in Vietnam from 3 February 1967 to 2 February 1968. He was honorably released from active duty on 22 July 1969.
3. Item 24 (Decorations, Medals, Badges, Commendations, Citations, and Campaign Ribbons Awarded or Authorized) of his DD Form 214 does not list the Purple Heart as an authorized award.
4. Item 40 (Wounds) on his DA Form 20 (Enlisted Qualification Record) contains no entries.
5. The available records contain no documentation showing he sustained wounds or was treated for wounds incurred as a result of hostile action. His name is not listed on the Vietnam casualty roster.
6. His records contain no evidence of any general orders awarding him the Purple Heart. A 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 U.S. Army Human Resources Command, failed to reveal any orders for the Purple Heart.
7. 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. When contemplating an award of the Purple Heart, the key issue commanders must take into consideration is the degree to which the enemy caused the injury. The fact the proposed recipient was participating in direct or indirect combat operations is a necessary prerequisite, but is not sole justification for award.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
There are no general orders available which awarded the applicant the Purple Heart. There are no medical records available which show the applicant was wounded or treated for wounds as a result of hostile action during his service in Vietnam. In the absence of such evidence, there is an insufficient basis for award of 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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