BOARD DATE: 2 February 2012
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20110016117
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 a second Purple Heart.
2. The applicant states he was wounded twice, first on 29 June 1967 and again on 9 January 1968. His DD Form 214 (Report of Transfer or Discharge) shows only one Purple Heart.
3. The applicant provides copies of 36th Evacuation Hospital General Orders Number 60 and his DD Form 214.
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's service medical records are believed to be on permanent loan to the Department of Veterans Affairs and are not available for review.
3. The applicant served on active duty in the Regular Army from 11 October 1966 through 10 October 1969 with service in Vietnam from March 1967 through March 1968 with the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment.
4. 36th Evacuation Hospital General Order Number 60, dated 1 July 1967, awarded the applicant the Purple Heart for wounds received on 29 June 1967.
5. The applicant's DA Form 20 (Enlisted Qualification Record) shows he was a patient at the U.S. Army Hospital, Camp Zama from 7 August 1967 through 17 September 1967 and that he was awarded the Purple Heart Medal by 36th Evacuation Hospital General Order Number 60 on 1 July 1967.
6. A review of the Vietnam Casualty List found the applicant's name listed only once. It shows he was wounded on 29 June 1967 with a description of "Hostile, Wounded In Action: Not Serious Not Hospitalized" " by a "Other Weapons (Including Cutting Instruments, Piercing Instruments, Blunt Instruments, Etc.)."
7. 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 applicant.
8. Army Regulation 600-8-2 (Military Awards) provides that the Purple Heart is awarded to an individual who is wounded in action against an enemy of the United States, the armed force of a foreign country which is or has been engaged, while serving with a friendly foreign forces against an opposing force even though the U.S. is not engaged, as the result of any act of such enemy or opposing force or as a result an act of any hostile foreign force. 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. An Oak Leaf Clusters designates a second or subsequent award.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. The applicant states he was wounded twice, first on 29 June 1967 and again on 9 January 1968, but his DD Form 214 shows only one Purple Heart.
2. The available record contains orders for award of only one Purple Heart, for wounds received on 29 June 1967.
3. Without some medical evidence of record to corroborate the receipt of a second wound, there is insufficient evidence to support a correction of his records 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) AR20110016117
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20110016117
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