IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 17 July 2012
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20120001440
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 wounds received in Vietnam on 29 November 1968.
2. The applicant states, in effect, that he received a shrapnel wound in his upper back left shoulder blade during a firefight on 29 November 1968 and was not awarded the Purple Heart for that wound. He goes on to state that he declined medical evacuation on the helicopter because his wound was minor and because he was afraid to get on the helicopter and did not want to look like a sissy. He also states that he had the wound treated the following day when he returned to base camp; however, the medic told him that he could not put him in for a Purple Heart because he could not verify the circumstances. He continues by stating that he should have received the Purple Heart and he now needs it to upgrade his treatment priority at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
3. The applicant provides three pages explaining his application, a copy of his DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge), copies of his attempts to obtain morning reports, and copies of his VA treatment records indicating the presence of shrapnel in his left shoulder.
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 11 March 1968. He completed his training as a light weapons infantryman and was transferred to Vietnam on 17 August 1968 for assignment to Company B, 4thBattalion, 23d Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. He was advanced to the pay grade of E-4 on 12 January 1969.
3. He departed Vietnam on 11 August 1969 for assignment to Fort Carson, Colorado where he remained until he was honorably released from active duty (REFRAD) on 13 March 1970 due to the expiration of his term of service (ETS). He had served 1 year, 11 months, and 29 days of active service. His DD Form 214 issued at the time of his REFRAD shows that he was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal with two bronze service stars, Vietnam Campaign Medal with 60 Device, Army Commendation Medal with one oak leaf cluster, Combat Infantryman Badge, and the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm Unit Citation.
4. A review of his official records failed to show any evidence to indicate that he was wounded as a result of enemy action or that treatment for any such wounds was made a matter of record. Additionally, his name is not contained on the Vietnam Casualty Listing.
5. 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 show that the applicant was awarded the Purple Heart.
6. The VA records provided by the applicant indicate that he has a 3 x 4mm metallic foreign body in the left lateral chest wall.
7. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides that the Purple Heart is awarded for a wound sustained as a result of hostile action. Substantiating evidence must be provided to verify 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.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. While the sincerity of the applicants claim that he was wounded as a result of enemy action in Vietnam and that he was treated the following day by a medic is not in doubt, there is insufficient evidence to support his claim.
2. The requirements for award of the Purple Heart require that the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record and there is no such evidence present in the available records.
3. Therefore, in the absence of such evidence there is an insufficient 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) AR20120001440
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20120001440
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