BOARD DATE: 8 December 2011
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20110012263
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 that he be awarded the Purple Heart.
2. The applicant states that he was wounded on 12 July 1968 in Vietnam when an enemy mine exploded under his Armored Personnel Carrier and caused the mortar rounds inside to explode, which discharged shrapnel and powder into his body. He goes on to state that treatment records show that he was treated for his injuries.
3. The applicant provides a copy of his DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States report of Transfer or Discharge) and two pages of chronological records of medical care.
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 5 December 1967. He completed basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri and advanced individual training as a light weapons infantryman at Fort Polk, Louisiana before being transferred to Vietnam on 19 May 1968 for assignment to Company A, 1st Battalion, 50th Infantry Regiment, 173d Airborne Brigade. He was promoted to the rank of sergeant on 9 February 1969.
3. He departed Vietnam on 4 June 1969 and was transferred to Fort Benning, Georgia where he remained until he was honorably released from active duty (REFRAD) on 4 December 1969 due to the expiration of his term of service. He had served 2 years of total active service. His DD Form 214 issued at the time of his REFRAD reflects that he was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, Bronze Star Medal with 1 Oak Leaf Cluster, Combat Infantryman Badge, Vietnam Service Medal with 2 bronze service stars and Vietnam Campaign Medal with 1960 Device.
4. The Chronological Records of Medical Care provided by the applicant indicate that on 12 July 1968 the applicant was treated for powder burns on his back and the back of his left leg.
5. A review of his official records failed to show any evidence to indicate that the applicant was wounded as a result of enemy action in Vietnam. Additionally, his name is not contained on the Vietnam Casualty Listing and a search 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 orders awarding the applicant the Purple Heart.
6. 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 a medical officer, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. While the sincerity of the applicants claim that he was wounded/injured in Vietnam is not in doubt, he has failed to show through the evidence submitted with his application and the evidence of record that he was wounded as a result of enemy action.
2. The available records contain no evidence related to the 12 July 1968 injury that led to his treatment and the passage of 40+ years since it occurred makes it difficult at best to determine what happened in his case.
3. Therefore, in the absence of substantiating evidence to show that his injury was the result of enemy action, there appears to be no basis to award him the Purple Heart at this time.
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) AR20110012263
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20110012263
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