IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 2 August 2012
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20120002573
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 was wounded during his service on 23 March 1953. He has received service connection from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for his bilateral knee condition due to that incident.
3. The applicant provides a VA rating decision, dated 24 April 2007.
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 complete military records are not available to the Board for review. A fire destroyed approximately 18 million service members' records at the National Personnel Records Center in 1973. It is believed that his records were lost or destroyed in that fire. However, there were sufficient documents remaining in a reconstructed record for the Board to conduct a fair and impartial review of this case.
3. The applicant's certification of Military Service, issued by the National Personnel Records Administration on 8 February 2006, shows he was a member of the Army of the United States from 26 February 1952 to 14 December 1953. He received an honorable discharge as a private first class.
4. The Office of the Surgeon General (OTSG) files:
a. Show that, on 23 March 1953, the applicant sustained a combat wound in North Korea. He was treated at an Army medical treatment facility overseas and released.
b. The OTSG files (commonly referred to as the SGO files), a health record research project, involved transposing hospital admission card data from the periods of World War II and the Korean Conflict onto magnetic tape. In 1988, the National Research Council made these tape files available to the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC). It was widely believed that these tapes would become a valuable substitute for the records lost in the NPRC fire of 1973. The best available estimation of the completeness of this project is that it captured at least 95 percent of all combat casualty hospital admissions.
5. The Korean Casualty File also shows he was wounded in action on 23 March 1953 in North Korea.
6. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides that the Purple Heart is awarded for a wound sustained in action against an enemy or 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 medical personnel, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
The evidence clearly shows he was wounded in action in North Korea on
23 March 1953. This injury is further confirmed with the information compiled by OTSG. Therefore, he should be awarded the Purple Heart and have his records corrected to show it.
BOARD VOTE:
____X____ ___X_____ ____X____ GRANT FULL RELIEF
________ ________ ________ GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF
________ ________ ________ GRANT FORMAL HEARING
________ ________ ________ DENY APPLICATION
BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION:
The Board determined the evidence presented is sufficient to warrant a recommendation for relief. As a result, the Board recommends that all Department of the Army records of the individual concerned be corrected by awarding him the Purple Heart for wounds received in action on 23 March 1953 and issuing him an appropriate document to show this award.
____________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) AR20110006568
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20120002573
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