IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 12 July 2012
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20120001288
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 the Purple Heart for shrapnel wounds received in Vietnam on 13 December 1969.
2. The applicant states that he was injured from flying shrapnel in Pleiku, Vietnam on 13 December 1969 and was evacuated to the 71st Evacuation Hospital and lost all of his front teeth. He goes on to state that he was given the choice of going home or staying for a dental replacement and he opted to go home. He also states that his sergeant told him that he would process the Purple Heart paperwork but he never received it.
3. The applicant provides a copy of his Veterans Administration Card and a copy of his DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge).
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 was inducted on 8 April 1968. He successfully completed his training and was transferred to Vietnam on 30 December 1968 for duty as an information specialist and photographer.
3. He departed Vietnam on 26 December 1969 and was transferred to Fort Lewis, Washington where he underwent a separation medical/physical examination and there is no mention of the applicant being injured on those reports.
4. On 30 December 1969, he was honorably released from active duty (REFRAD) as an overseas returnee. He had served 1 year, 8 months, and 23 days of active service and his DD Form 214 issued at the time of his REFRAD shows that he was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal with 60 device, and the Army Commendation Medal.
5. A review of his official records failed to show any evidence of the applicant being wounded, being awarded the Purple Heart, or being evacuated to a hospital. Additionally, his name is not contained on the Vietnam Casualty Listing and a search of the Awards and Decorations Computer-Assisted Retrieval System, an index of general orders issued during the Vietnam era between 1965 and 1973 maintained by the Military Awards Branch of the U.S. Army Human Resources Command, failed to reveal any orders the Purple Heart.
6. 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. While the sincerity of the applicants claim that he was injured in Vietnam during an enemy rocket attack is not in doubt, there is no medical evidence present in the available records to show that he was wounded as a result of enemy action which is a prerequisite for award of the Purple Heart.
2. Therefore, in the absence of such evidence there appears to be no basis to award him the Purple Heart at this time.
BOARD VOTE:
________ ________ ________ GRANT FULL RELIEF
________ ________ ________ GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF
________ ________ ________ GRANT FORMAL HEARING
____x___ ____x___ ____x___ DENY APPLICATION
BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION:
1. 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.
2. The Board wants the applicant and all others concerned to know that this action in no way diminishes the sacrifices made by the applicant in service to the United States during the Vietnam War. The applicant and all Americans should be justifiably proud of his service in arms.
_______ _ __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) AR20120001288
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20120001288
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