IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 6 November 2012
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20120008628
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 received treatment at a local medical station on or about 24 August 1968 while serving in the Republic of Vietnam. He severed his left ring finger and injured his back after he fell from a ladder due to concussions from incoming enemy rounds. He further states he is receiving Department of Veterans Affairs disability compensation for his back injury and continues to have problems with his back and finger.
3. The applicant provides a self-authored statement and the front page of his Standard Form 89 (Report of Medical History).
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 enlisted in the Regular Army on 29 December 1967. He completed training and he was awarded military occupational specialty 11B (Light Weapons Infantryman). The highest rank/grade he attained while serving on active duty was specialist four/E-4.
3. His DA Form 20 (Enlisted Qualification Record) shows he served in the Republic of Vietnam from 28 July 1968 to 25 July 1969. Item 40 (Wounds) of this form is blank.
4. On 9 November 1970, he was discharged under honorable conditions. The DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge) he received at the time of his discharge does not show award of the Purple Heart.
5. The applicant's military record is void of orders or documents that indicate he was awarded the Purple Heart by proper authority while serving on active duty. It also contains no medical records showing he was wounded as a result of hostile action or treated for such wounds.
6. A review of the Adjutant General's Office Casualty Division's Vietnam casualty listing does not include the applicant's name as a casualty.
7. 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 U.S. Army Human Resources Command Military Awards Branch, failed to reveal any orders for the Purple Heart pertaining to the applicant.
8. The applicant provides the front page of a Standard Form 89, dated 2 October 1970, in which he stated he was in normal health, but suffered from a bad back.
9. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) prescribes Army policy, criteria, and administrative instructions concerning individual and unit military awards. It states 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:
1. The applicant's request for award of the Purple Heart was carefully considered and it was determined that there is insufficient evidence to support this request.
2. In order to support award of the Purple Heart, the member must have been wounded in action and there must be evidence to show the wound for which the award is being made was received as a result of enemy action. The member must have required medical treatment by military medical personnel and this medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.
3. The applicant's record contains no medical treatment records or other documents that confirm the applicant was wounded as a result of enemy action or treated for a combat-related wound or injury while serving in the Republic of Vietnam. The regulatory burden of proof necessary to support award of the Purple Heart has not been met; therefore, it would not be appropriate to award the applicant 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 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) AR20120008628
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20120008628
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