DOCKET NUMBER: AR20110006784
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. He states, in effect, that in late March 1969 during his service in the Republic of Vietnam (RVN), his living quarters was under rifle fire by enemy forces. The rifle fire broke the windowpane in the door of the balcony. When he turned around to go to obtain more ammunition, he hit the broken glass with his left arm. He states the injury hit several blood vessels and bled profusely. The local aid station bandaged him and he was able to get to the field hospital the following day where the wound was treated. He was released from hospital and returned to duty. He believes his medical records, were in the U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) Headquarters in Saigon.
3. He provides a DD Form 214 (Report of Separation from Active Duty) for the period ending 31 December 1974.
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 had prior enlisted service in the United Sates Navy and United States Army Reserve (USAR). He was appointed as an officer in the USAR and entered active duty on 10 March 1957. He arrived in the RVN and was assigned to MACV on 6 May 1968. On 20 April 1969, he departed the RVN.
3. On 31 December 1974, he retired.
4. His DD Form 214 for the period ending 31 December 1974 does not show award of the Purple Heart.
5. There are no general orders in his service personnel records that show he was awarded the Purple Heart. His name is not listed on the Vietnam casualty roster.
6. Item 21 (Awards and Decorations) of his DA Form 66 (Officer Qualification Record) does not show award of the Purple Heart.
7. During the processing of this case, a member of the Board staff reviewed the Awards and Decorations Computer Assisted Retrieval System maintained by the Military Awards Branch of the U.S. Army Human Resources Command which is an index of general orders issued during the Vietnam era between 1965 and 1973. This review failed to reveal any award of the Purple Heart on file for the applicant.
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, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. It is acknowledged that the applicant served in the RVN. However, there are no orders in his service personnel records that show he was awarded the Purple Heart. There is no evidence in the available records and he has not provided evidence that shows his injuries were the result of hostile action.
2. Regrettably, in the absence of military records which show he was injured as a result of hostile action, there is an insufficient basis for 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) AR20110006784
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20110006784
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