IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 31 March 2011
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20100023560
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 and correction of his DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge) to show this award.
2. He states he received a shrapnel injury to his left knee during a mortar attack while serving with the 4th Battalion, 14th Artillery, in Vietnam. He adds he was treated in the field, but no paperwork for the award of the Purple Heart was filed.
3. He provides a copy of his DD Form 214 and a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Rating Decision, dated 13 February 2009.
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 was inducted into the Army of the United States on 2 August 1966. He served in Vietnam from 5 March 1967 to 29 February 1968. He was honorably released from active duty on 1 August 1968 at the expiration of his term of service.
3. The VA Rating Decision shows he was awarded a 10 percent (%) disability rating for service-connection for residuals, shrapnel wound, and knee with degenerative joint disease, effective 9 March 2001. It does not provide the circumstances of how his injury was incurred.
4. Item 24 (Decorations, Medals, Badges, Commendations, Citations, and Campaign Ribbons Awarded or Authorized) of his DD Form 214 does not show award of the Purple Heart. His military service records do not contain any general orders awarding him the Purple Heart, and his name is not listed on the Vietnam casualty listing.
5. Item 40 (Wounds) of his DA Form 20 (Enlisted Qualification Record) is blank. Additionally, there is no documentation in the available records that show he sustained wounds or was treated for wounds incurred as a result of hostile action.
6. 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 United States Army Human Resources Command, failed to reveal any orders for the Purple Heart pertaining to the applicant.
7. 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 medical personnel, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. The applicant provided documentation from his VA rating decision that shows he was awarded a 10% disability rating percentage for shrapnel wound; however, this evidence alone is insufficient to conclude that he is entitled to the award of the Purple Heart. There is no evidence that his wounding was the result of hostile action.
2. There is no evidence of record and the applicant did not provide any substantive evidence that shows he was wounded or treated for wounds as a result of hostile action during his service in Vietnam. In the absence of supporting personnel or medical evidence, there is an insufficient basis to justify the 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.
ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20100023560
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20100023560
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