IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 3 May 2011
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20100026045
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:
* He was wounded by shrapnel in his left leg on or about 24 July 1971
* He was evacuated from his unit after receiving the wound
* He was told he would receive the Purple Heart but he never received it
* The Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) Rating Decision shows service connection for a left leg shrapnel wound
3. The applicant provides a DVA Rating decision, dated 30 August 2010.
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. Having prior service in the U.S. Marine Corps, he enlisted in the Regular Army on 7 September 1956. He served in military occupational specialty 71N (transportation movement supervisor) in Vietnam from 29 June 1971 to
1 November 1971. On 31 October 1981, he retired in the rank of command sergeant major.
3. His DD Forms 214 (Report of Separation from Active Duty/Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty) do not show the Purple Heart as an authorized award.
4. There are no orders for the Purple Heart in his service personnel records.
5. Item 41 (Awards and Decorations) of his DA Form 20 (Enlisted Qualification Record) does not show the Purple Heart and item 40 (Wounds) of his DA Form 20 is blank. His name does not appear on the Vietnam casualty roster.
6. 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 United States Army Human Resources Command, failed to reveal any orders for the Purple Heart pertaining to the applicant.
7. He provided page 2 of a DVA Rating Decision, dated 30 August 2010, which states, in pertinent part, he was granted service connection for scar, shrapnel, wound, left leg (0 percent). It also states, "Vietnam Era, Incurred-COMBAT."
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 medical personnel, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. He contends he was wounded by shrapnel in his left leg on or about 24 July 1971 in Vietnam. However, no evidence of record shows he was wounded or injured as a result of hostile action in Vietnam.
2. There are no orders for the Purple Heart in the available records. In the absence of orders or other evidence of record showing that the applicant was injured or treated for wounds as a result of hostile action in Vietnam, the DVA Rating Decision provided by the applicant is not sufficient as a basis for award of the Purple Heart. Regrettably, there is insufficient evidence in which to base award of the Purple Heart in this case.
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) AR20100026045
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20100026045
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