BOARD DATE: 22 December 2011
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20110012742
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 in action in Vietnam in June 1970.
3. The applicant provides his DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge) and a one-page medical treatment record.
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 applicants records show he was inducted into the Army of the United States on 10 December 1968 and he held military occupational specialty 71B (Clerk Typist). He served in Vietnam from 10 July 1969 to 12 July 1970 while assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade.
3. He was honorably released from active duty on 12 July 1970 and transferred to the U.S. Army Reserve. He completed 1 year, 7 months, and 3 days of creditable active service.
4. There are no orders in his records showing award of the Purple Heart.
5. Item 24 (Decorations, Medals, Badges, Commendations, Citations and Campaign Ribbons Awarded or Authorized) of his DD Form 214 does not show the Purple Heart.
6. Item 40 (Wounds) of his DA Form 20 (Enlisted Qualification Record) contains no entries and item 41 (Awards and Decorations) does not show the Purple Heart.
7. There is no medical evidence in his available record that shows he was wounded as a result of hostile action while in an active duty status.
8. A review of 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, failed to reveal orders for the Purple Heart pertaining to the applicant.
9. Review of The Adjutant General's Office, Casualty Division's Vietnam casualty listing failed to show his name as a casualty.
10. The applicant provides a one-page medical treatment record, dated 12 June 1970, wherein it stated someone was seen on that date at the 173rd Airborne Brigade aid station. The entry stated Return to duty and Notify unit WIA [Wounded in Action], IRHA [Injury Result of Hostile Action]. However, this record does not show the name of the Soldier being treated and it neither specifies what injury/wound was incurred, nor how the injury/wound was incurred.
11. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides, in pertinent part, 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 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 criteria for the Purple Heart requires the submission of substantiating evidence to verify that a Soldier received a wound/injury as the result of hostile action, the wound/injury must have required medical treatment by medical personnel, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.
2. There is no evidence in the applicants records and he has not provided conclusive evidence that shows he was wounded or injured as a result of hostile action, that he was treated for such wounds by medical personnel, and that his treatment was made a matter of official record. The record of treatment he provided does not show the name of the Soldier who was treated on that date.
3. Notwithstanding the applicant's sincerity, in the absence of documentary evidence there is no basis for granting his request for 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) AR20110012742
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20110012742
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