IN THE CASE OF:	

		BOARD DATE:	    28 August 2012

		DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20120003437 


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 for an injury he received in the line of duty in 1967.  

2.  He states:

   a.  In May 1967, when serving with the 972nd Signal Battalion in Quy Nhon, Vietnam his compound was attacked by mortar and small arms fire.  Mortar rounds hit the location where he was repairing communication lines.  He fell and broke his left wrist when the Soldier holding him in the air ducked for cover.  The medics were called and he received assistance for the pain.
   
   b.  He was transported to the field hospital in Quy Nhon and medically evacuated (MEDEVAC) to the Army Hospital in Okinawa a few days later where he initially had surgery on his wrist.  
   
   c.  The hospital personnel section in Okinawa told him he would receive the Purple Heart at a later date, but he never did.  
   
   d.  On 12 February 1968, he had additional surgery on his left wrist at Womack Army Hospital, Fort Bragg, NC.  Personnel at Fort Bragg, NC told him all his MEDEVAC records were lost so there was not enough evidence to award him the Purple Heart.  
   
   
   
3.  He provides:

* DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge) for the period ending 30 June 1971
* Retirement DD Form 214 (Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty) for the period ending 30 April 1980
* DA Form 20 (Enlisted Qualification Record)
* Standard Form 600 (Chronological Record of Medical Care)

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 was inducted into the Army of the United States on 25 August 1959 and was released from active duty on 3 July 1961.  He was transferred to the U.S. Army Reserve Control Group on the following day.  His service record does not include a DD Form 214 for this period of service.

3.  On 28 July 1961, he enlisted in the Regular Army and continued to serve on active duty through a series of reenlistments.

4.  He provided a Standard Form 600 which indicates he was evaluated at a medical facility on 29 May 1967 for a fractured left wrist.  This medical document does not indicate he sustained this fracture as a result of enemy action.

5.  His DA Form 20 shows in:

* item 31 (Foreign Service) he served in Vietnam from 19 December 1966 to 28 August 1967
* item 38 (Record of Assignments) he was assigned to the 972nd Signal Battalion in Vietnam from 25 December 1966 to 8 May 1967
* item 38 he was in a patient status from 16 June to 1 September 1967
* item 40 (Wounds) no entry 
* item 41 (Awards and Decorations) no entry for the Purple Heart 

6.  His service record does not contain orders that show he was awarded the Purple Heart and the Vietnam Casualty Roster does not list his name.

7.  He was retired from active duty on 30 April 1980.  His retirement DD Form 214 does not show award of the Purple Heart.  

8.  A review 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 for the Purple Heart pertaining to the applicant.

9.  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.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 also states that when contemplating an award of the Purple Heart the key issue commanders must take into consideration is the degree to which the enemy caused the injury.  

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant's medical documentation indicates he was treated for a fracture of his left wrist on 29 May 1967.  By his own admission, he fell and broke his left wrist when the mortar rounds hit the location where he was repairing communication lines and the Soldier holding him in the air ducked for cover.  

2.  His service record is void of evidence which indicates he sustained this injury as the result of hostile action.  His name is not listed on the Vietnam Casualty Roster.  

3.  In accordance with the regulation, in order to award the Purple Heart, it is necessary to establish that a Soldier was wounded as a result of enemy action, the wound required treatment by medical personnel, and the treatment must have been made a matter of official record.  

4.  In the absence of evidence that shows he was wounded or injured as a result of hostile action, there is an insufficient basis upon which to award of the Purple Heart in this case.

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)                                         AR20120003437



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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20120003437



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