IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 18 August 2011
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20110014356
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, reconsideration of the portion of his previous application pertaining to award of the Purple Heart.
2. He states his record should reflect that an explosion in the course of hostile action at Moc Hoa, Ken Tuong Province, Vietnam, during the Tet Offensive caused an injury to his right eye. The injury should have led to award of the Purple Heart.
3. He provides:
* a Standard Form (SF) 88 (Report of Medical Examination)
* an SF 89 (Report of Medical History)
* a Veterans Administration (VA) rating decision, dated 1 September 1970
* his unsworn/undated Affidavit
CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:
1. Incorporated herein by reference are military records which were summarized in the previous consideration of the applicant's case by the Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) in Docket Number 76-7281, on 18 May 1977.
2. The applicant submitted a new argument which was not previously reviewed by the ABCMR; therefore, it is considered new evidence and as such warrants consideration by the Board.
3. Following a period of enlisted service in the Regular Army, on 5 December 1966, the applicant entered active duty as a Reserve Commissioned Officer of the Army. He was honorably released from active duty 4 December 1968 after completing 4 years, 3 months, and 4 days of total active service.
4. Item 18 (Record of Assignments) of his DA Form 66 (Officer Qualification Record) shows he was assigned for duty in Vietnam with the 149th Military Intelligence Group and the U.S. Military Assistance Command (MACV) from 7 September 1967 to 17 August 1968.
5. His record is void of documentation showing he was awarded the Purple Heart.
6. 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 Awards and Decorations Branch of the U.S. Army Human Resources Command, failed to reveal any orders for the Purple Heart pertaining to the applicant.
7. His name does not appear on the Vietnam casualty listing.
8. His complete service medical record is not available to the Board for review. The Standard Forms (SF) 88 and 89 he provides were completed on 2 December 1968 during his separation processing.
a. Next to item 33 (Have you ever had any illness or injury other than those already noted?) the SF 88 shows the entry "Fragment in eye, mortar explosion, S. Vietnam, 1968." The information in this portion of the form was provided by the applicant.
b. Item 74 (Summary of Defects and Diagnoses) of the SF 89 shows the entry "Has fragment in sclera of eye -- not seen today." Item 75 (Recommendations - Further Specialist Examinations Indicated) shows the entry "Rec: eye consult ref: removal of foreign body."
9. The VA rating decision he provides shows he was given a 0 percent (%) disability rating percentage for a right eye condition and a laceration on the head.
10. The affidavit he provides was prepared in 1976 and shows he is the affiant. He stated, in pertinent part:
On February 2, 1968, in an attack on B-41 during the Tet Offensive a hostile mortar explosion caused either a stone or metal fragment to [lodge] in my eye. Although a report and recommendation was supposedly made, it apparently never reached MACV.
I was advised by doctors that the fragment would best be left alone since it does not impair my vision in any way.
11. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) states 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 available documentation shows the applicant had a fragment in his eye. Unfortunately, the source of the fragment is not recorded in the available records other than by statements and information he provided.
2. While the available record shows no apparent reason to doubt his affidavit or the information on the SF 88 prepared during his separation processing, these documents alone do not constitute the substantiating evidence required by regulation for award of the Purple Heart.
3. In the absence of official documentation confirming the cause of his eye injury, the medical treatment he received, and that the treatment he received was made a matter of official record, there is an insufficient basis for awarding him a Purple Heart or correcting his record to show 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 to amend the decision of the ABCMR set forth in Docket Number 76-7281, dated 18 May 1977.
____________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) AR20110014356
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20110014356
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