IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 5 June 2012
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20110024823
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 should have been awarded a Purple Heart for wounds he received during the TET Counteroffensive Campaign in 1968. He was with the Korean artillery when he was wounded in the left arm by a bullet that ricocheted off his bulldozer. It was not reported to his company because he was treated by a Korean medic.
3. The applicant provides no additional documentation.
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 records show he enlisted in the Regular Army on 10 January 1967 and he held military occupational specialty 62E (Heavy Construction Equipment Operator). He served in Vietnam from on or about 7 June 1967 to 15 July 1969 while assigned to Company A, 864th Engineer Battalion.
3. He was honorably released from active duty on 27 August 1969 and was transferred to the U.S. Army Reserve. He completed 2 years, 7 months, and 18 days of creditable active service.
4. The DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge) he was issued does not show award of the Purple Heart.
5. 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.
6. There are no orders in his records showing award of 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 Adjutant General's Casualty Division's Vietnam casualty listing failed to show his name as a casualty.
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. 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 any 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.
3. Notwithstanding the applicant's sincerity, in the absence of evidence that shows he was wounded as a result of hostile action and treated for those wounds, regrettably, there is insufficient evidence upon which to base award of the Purple Heart in this case.
4. 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) AR20110024823
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20110024823
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