BOARD DATE:	  22 May 2012

		DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20110024383 


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 her deceased spouse, a former service member (FSM), be awarded the Purple Heart.

2.  The applicant states when her husband was in Vietnam, his mother contacted the Red Cross as she had not heard from him in awhile.  She found out that he had been in the hospital for 3 weeks with cracked ribs and had been hit by shrapnel.  When he returned home, he had malaria.  After he got out of the service, the family doctor removed shrapnel from his body.  

3.  The applicant provides:

* DD Forms 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge), for the periods ending 27 March 1964 and 27 March 1967
* Marriage license
* FSM's certificate of death
* Letter from the Department of Veterans Affairs, dated 15 June 2011

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 applicant’s 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 applicant’s 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 records show he enlisted in the Regular Army (RA) on 20 March 1963 and he held military occupational specialty (MOS) 630.07 (Mechanical Maintenance Helper).  This MOS subsequently changed to 63A.  He was discharged for the purpose of immediate reenlistment on 27 March 1964.  He completed 1 year and 8 days of creditable active service during this period of service.

3.  He reenlisted in the RA on 28 March 1964.  He served in Vietnam from 5 May 1965 to 10 April 1966 while assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment.

4.  He was honorably released from active duty on 27 March 1967 and he was transferred to the U.S. Army Reserve.  He completed 3 years of creditable active service during this period of service.

5.  The DD Form 214 he was issued for this period of service does not show award of the Purple Heart. 

6.  There are no orders in his records showing award of the Purple Heart.

7.  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.

8.  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.

9.  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.

10.  A review of The Adjutant General's Casualty Division's Vietnam casualty listing failed to show his name as a casualty.

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 a 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 FSM’s records and the applicant has not provided any evidence that shows the FSM 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.  In the absence of documentary evidence that shows the FSM was wounded as a result of hostile action and treated for those wounds, there is insufficient evidence upon which to base award of the Purple Heart in this case.

3.  Nevertheless, this action in no way diminishes the sacrifices made by the applicant in service to our Nation.  The applicant and all Americans should be justifiably proud of his service in arms.

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)                                         AR20110024383





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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20110024383



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