IN THE CASE OF: 

		BOARD DATE:	  4 January 2013

		DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20120011321 


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 should have received two Purple Hearts from mortar, scrap metal, and from small arms hostile fire.  He describes events that occurred in April 1967 in which he received wounds when a mortar round landed close to him causing him to lose consciousness.  When he came to he had four small wounds, two in his forehead, one on the left side of his nose, and one on the right side of his head.  

3.  The applicant provides no additional evidence in support of his application.

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.  He was inducted into the Army of the United States on 23 June 1966.  He completed basic combat and advanced individual training and was awarded military occupational specialty 13A (Field Artillery Basic).

3.  He served in the Republic of Vietnam with B Battery, 1st Battalion, 8th Artillery from 12 December 1966 to 4 December 1967.

4.  On 21 June 1968, he was released from active duty.  He completed 1 year, 
11 months, and 29 days of active service that was characterized as honorable.

5.  Item 40 (Wounds) of his DA Form 20 (Enlisted Qualification Record) is blank.

6.  Item 41 (Awards and Decorations) of his DA Form 20 does not show any awards of the Purple Heart.

7.  His service medical records were not available for review.  His name does not appear on the Vietnam casualty listing.

8.  A review of the Awards and Decorations Computer-Assisted Retrieval System (ADCARS), an index of general orders issued during the Vietnam era between 1965 and 1973 maintained by the Military Awards Branch of the United States Army Human Resources Command, failed to reveal any orders awarding him the Purple Heart.

9.  Army Regulation 600-200 (Enlisted Personnel Management System), chapter 9, of the version in effect at the time, stated that a brief description of wounds or injuries (including injury from gas) requiring medical treatment that were received through hostile or enemy action, including those requiring hospitalization, would be entered in item 40 of the DA Form 20.

10.  Army Regulation 672-5-1 (Military Awards), then in effect, provided that the Purple Heart was awarded to any member of an Armed Force or any civilian national of the United States who while serving under competent authority in any capacity with one of the U.S. Armed Services had been wounded, killed, or who had died as a result of a wound sustained as a result of hostile action.  Not more than one award will be made for more than one would or injury received at the same instant or from the same missile, force, explosion, or agent.  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.  Item 40 of his DA Form 20 contains no entries and his name is not listed on the Vietnam casualty listing.  

2.  Although he states he should have been awarded two Purple Hearts, he only describes one event involving a mortar round.  Therefore, more than one Purple Heart would not have been awarded as a result of multiple wounds received as a result of the same mortar round.   The veracity of his recollections is not in question.  However, there is no official documentation to corroborate his statement. 

3.  Therefore, in the absence of evidence showing he was wounded as result of hostile action, the wound required treatment by medical personnel, and the medical treatment was made a matter of official record there is an insufficient basis to award 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:

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 him in service to our Nation.  

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)                                         AR20120011321



3


ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS

 RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


1

ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20120011321



2


ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS

 RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


1