BOARD DATE: 11 July 2013
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20120022374
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 correction of his DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge) to show award of the Purple Heart.
2. The applicant states:
* he was wounded in Vietnam and awarded the Purple Heart
* his Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) documents support that his wounds are service-connected
3. The applicant provides:
* 1-page VA medical extract
* A VA letter, page 1
* Honorable Discharge Certificate
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 10 August 1970. He completed training and was awarded military occupational specialty 11B (Light Weapons Infantryman).
3. He served in Vietnam from 11 July 1971 to 1 March 1972. While in Vietnam, he was assigned to:
* Company C, 3d Battalion, 187th Infantry from 1 August to 30 November 1971
* Company D, 2nd Battalion, 501st Infantry, 101st Airborne Division from 1 December 1971 to 1 March 1972
4. He was honorably released from active duty on 9 August 1973. His DD Form 214 does not show award of the Purple Heart.
5. There is no evidence of record that shows he was injured or wounded as a result of hostile action or that he was awarded the Purple Heart. There is nothing in the typical sources below that show he was wounded/injured as a result of hostile action:
a. Item 40 (Wounds) of his DA Form 20 (Enlisted Qualification Record) does not show a combat wound or injury. Army Regulation 600-200 (Enlisted Personnel Management System), chapter 9, stated a brief description of wounds or injuries (including injury from gas) requiring medical treatment received through hostile or enemy action, including those requiring hospitalization would be entered in item 40 of the DA Form 20. This regulation further stated that the date the wound or injury occurred would also be placed in item 40.
b. A review of the Awards and Decorations Computer Assisted Retrieval System maintained by the U.S. Army Human Resources Command, which is an index of general orders issued during the Vietnam era between 1965 and 1973, failed to reveal any orders for the Purple Heart pertaining to him.
c. His name is not shown on the Vietnam casualty listing. This is a microfiche listing of Vietnam Era casualties that is used to verify entitlement to the Purple Heart.
d. His medical records are not available for review and he does not provide copies of them.
6. The applicant provides a copy of his DD Form 214, Honorable Discharge Certificate, and a VA medical extract (page 1), dated 29 November 2012, which shows he received a zero percent rating for superficial scars. The medical extract also contains the handwritten annotation "shrapnel wounds in the back." He also provides page 1 of a VA letter, dated 10 August 2011, which shows the VA was reviewing a claim from him that included a shrapnel wound in the back.
7. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides that the Purple Heart is awarded for a wound sustained while in action against and 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 criteria for the Purple Heart requires the submission of substantiating evidence to verify that the injury/wound was the result of hostile action, the injury/wound must have required medical treatment by medical personnel, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.
2. The applicant's service record is void of any evidence that shows he was wounded or injured as a result of hostile action.
3. Therefore, in the absence of documentation that conclusively shows he was wounded or injured as a result of enemy action and treated for those wounds, there is an insufficient evidentiary basis for awarding him the Purple Heart.
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) AR20120022374
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20120022374
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