IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 4 October 2012
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20120006205
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 his records be corrected to show his award of the Purple Heart.
2. The applicant states he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with "V" Device while on active duty. Shortly after being discharged a major visited him and presented him the Purple Heart medal for a wound sustained during the action for which he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal. He would like this award to be documented to give him a higher priority from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
3. The applicant provides copies of a Certification of Military Service, an Honorable Discharge Certificate, discharge orders, a Bronze Star Medal Certificate, and a military service identification card.
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. It is believed that the applicant's military records were lost or destroyed in the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) fire of 1973. Information herein was obtained from reconstructed personnel records.
3. The Certification of Military Service shows the applicant served on active duty from 5 February 1952 through 4 February 1955 and was honorably discharged in the rank of sergeant.
4. The Bronze Star Medal certificate shows that as a private he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for heroism in ground combat in Korea on 23 March 1953.
5. In the development of this case a search of the health record research project records, commonly referred to as the "SGO Files," was made. These records involved transposing the 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 NPRC. It was widely believed that they would become a valuable substitute for the records lost in the NPRC fire of 1973. A search of these files found two entries for the applicant. First, on 24 March 1953, for a wound to his cheek from an explosive projectile and a second time in December 1954 for acute gastroenteritis.
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. The entry of a combat wound in the SGO records combined with the Bronze Star Medal certificate support a finding the applicant was wounded in action, received treatment by medical personnel, and the medical treatment was made a matter of official record on 23 March 1953.
2. In that there is no DD Form 214 or other record to correct, it is appropriate to grant the applicant relief in the form of issuance of a Purple Heart award certificate and orders awarding him the medal for a wound received on 23 March 1953.
BOARD VOTE:
___X____ ____X __ ____X___ GRANT FULL RELIEF
________ ________ ________ GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF
________ ________ ________ GRANT FORMAL HEARING
________ ________ ________ DENY APPLICATION
BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION:
The Board determined that the evidence presented was 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 the applicant the Purple Heart for a wound received on 23 March 1953 and providing him the award orders and a Purple Heart certificate.
__________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.
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