IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 26 April 2011
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20100025718
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, in effect, award of the Purple Heart for her husband, a former service member (FSM).
2. She states, in effect, the FSM's records are missing; therefore, he was never considered for the Purple Heart. She contends that according to the Army's records, there is nothing on file about his right leg being amputated due to a helicopter crash on 13 June 1969.
3. She provides:
* a marriage license
* a Standard Form 502 (Clinical Record Narrative Summary)
* a DA Form 8-118 (Medical Board Proceedings (MEB))
* an excerpt of his medical records
* two DD Forms 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge)
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 FSM's DD Form 214 for the period ending 9 March 1969 shows he enlisted in the Regular Army on 1 April 1968. He was discharged for the purpose of accepting an appointment as an Army Aviation warrant officer.
3. She provided a Standard Form 502, dated 23 July 1973, which shows the FSM was injured in a helicopter crash on 13 June 1969. He was flying as the pilot of a Utility Helicopter-1 aircraft which crashed and rolled down a mountainside and came to rest in an inverted position against a large tree. He was suspended in an inverted position by his right lower leg which was pinned between the helicopter and the tree. His right leg was incompletely amputated at the time of the accident at the level of the proximal tibia. He was immediately taken to the 67th Evacuation Hospital where a surgical amputation of the right lower extremity was completed.
4. An MEB was conducted on 24 September 1973 and the FSM was further referred to a physical evaluation board (PEB).
5. His PEB proceedings are not available for review; however, the excerpt of his military medical records contains pieces of his medical history from his time of entry into the Army through his surgical procedure. There is no evidence to show his injury occurred as a result of hostile action.
6. A second DD Form 214 shows he was placed on the Permanent Disability Retired List and granted 60-percent disability on 13 December 1973. 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.
7. His name does not appear on the Vietnam casualty roster.
8. A review of the Awards and Decorations Computer-Assisted Retrieval System, 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 awarding him the Purple Heart.
9. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides 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 the wound was the result of hostile action, the wound must have required treatment, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. The available evidence does show the FSM was injured in a helicopter crash while serving in Vietnam as an Army Aviator which required medical treatment. However, there is no evidence and the applicant has not provided sufficient evidence to show his injuries occurred as a result of hostile action.
2. As a result, there is insufficient evidence to base award of the Purple Heart. Therefore, the applicant is not entitled to the relief requested.
3. This action in no way diminishes the sacrifices made by the FSM. The applicant and all Americans should be justifiably proud of his service in arms.
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 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) AR20100025718
3
ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
1
ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20100025718
2
ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
1
ARMY | BCMR | CY2009 | 20090013690
He was never awarded the Purple Heart for the injuries he suffered during this crash. The applicant provides a copy of his DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge), dated 2 February 1969; a copy of his original Veterans Administration (VA) disability compensation; an internet printout, dated 21 May 2009, regarding a helicopter crash; and another internet printout, dated 21 May 2009, of the Vietnam Helicopter Pilot Association, in support of his...
ARMY | BCMR | CY2004 | 2004102653C070208
The Chief of the Military Awards Branch stated that the basic criteria for award of the Purple Heart required that it be awarded to soldiers for wounds or injuries received as a direct result of enemy action. While the statement described what happened on 21 February 1969, the major general does not state that he was present when the aircraft crashed or that he witnessed the aircraft being hit by enemy fire causing it to crash. Notwithstanding the evidence submitted by the applicant, the...
ARMY | BCMR | CY2012 | 20120006831
He further states the aircraft commander and he were severely injured and medically evacuated to the 67th Evacuation Hospital at Pleiku and to the 61st Medical Battalion in Qui Nhon. The applicant provides: * DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge) dated 16 October 1971 * DD Form 214 (Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty) dated 30 September 1980 * Honorable Discharge Certificate * Self-authored memoir of the events that led to the...
ARMY | BCMR | CY2012 | 20120010650
The FSM was never awarded the Purple Heart for the injury he incurred in Vietnam. The applicant provides: * An undated handwritten account of the FSM's assignment to Vietnam * Honorable Discharge Certificate * Certification of Service, dated 19 October 1971 * DD Form 214 (Report of Separation from Active Duty) for the period ending on 24 September 1974 * Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) application for medical benefits, dated 30 April 1991 * Death Certificate, dated 19 December 2010 *...
ARMY | BCMR | CY2014 | 20140009777
The applicant requests award of the Purple Heart to her late father-in-law, a former service member (FSM). A Disposition Form which shows on 5 October 1943 he was admitted to the 93rd Evacuation Hospital for an accidental gun-shot wound to his left thigh while serving in Italy. He was scheduled for transfer to the Walter Reed General Hospital, Washington, DC, for further observation and treatment with a disposition date of 31 January 1944. e. A Clinical Record Brief which shows he...
ARMY | BCMR | CY2010 | 20100016455
In awarding him the additional awards, HRC officials considered the request for award of the Purple Heart but determined there was insufficient evidence to show the helicopter crash and thus his injury was the result of enemy action. U.S. Army Vietnam Regulation 672-1 (Decorations and Awards) stated the authority to award the Purple Heart was delegated to hospital commanders. The FSM's service record is void of any orders that show he was awarded the Purple Heart, his name is not shown...
ARMY | BCMR | CY2009 | 20090016118
She also indicates that search and rescue did not indicate weather as being a factor in the search effort started within 2 hours of the crash and that the investigating authority properly declared the cause of the crash as "unknown" and without evidence of hostile fire postulated pilot error as a likely cause since mechanical malfunctions and radio problems could be reasonably eliminated and evidence of hostile fire existed. The applicant provides a letter, dated 10 April 2003, from the...
ARMY | BCMR | CY2008 | 20080017187
The applicant's name is not shown on the Vietnam Casualty Roster and his records do not contain general orders that show he was awarded the Purple Heart. However, there is no indication in the submitted statement that the author witnessed the injury at the time it happened or was present at the time the applicant was treated for his injury. Therefore, without the source document, the endorsement itself is insufficient evidence upon which to award the applicant the Purple Heart.
ARMY | BCMR | CY2014 | 20140007819
The applicant provides: * Self-authored statement, dated 24 March 2014 * General Orders (GO) Number 18907, dated 3 November 1970 * Two letters of support (from Mr. TLM) * Standard Form (SF) 600 (Health Record-Chronological Record of Medical Care), 2 pages, dated 9 October 1970 (from Mr. TLM) * DA Form 759-1 (Individual Flight Record and Flight Certificate Army), dated 3 September 1970 through 25 November 1970 (from Mr. TLM) * Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) in Docket...
ARMY | BCMR | CY2010 | 20100012127
The two eyewitness statements provided by the applicant both give an account of the helicopter hovering, in an attempt to drop supplies in an LZ which was under direct enemy fire. The report, which was performed at the time, shows that the helicopter crash in which the applicant was injured was investigated and determined by safety officials to have been the result of an accident, not the result of enemy action or sabotage. Two eyewitness accounts of the incident state the helicopter was...