IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 17 October 2013
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20130004024
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 was wounded while serving in Vietnam on 15 April 1967. He was walking the perimeter when he was hit from behind. He woke up in the hospital with an IV. At the time of the incident no one wanted to admit that the Viet Cong could slip inside the perimeter at the Bien Hoa Airbase. Also he was told that the brigade was reporting too many casualties and were not accepting minor wounds. Because he was a private first class and liked where he was and what he was doing he just kept his mouth shut.
3. The applicant provides:
* a self-authored statement
* his DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge) for the period ending 21 May 1968
* his DD Form 214 for the period ending 21 May 1974
* a Standard Form (SF) 600 (Chronological Record of Medical Care)
* a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) notification letter, dated 28 January 2013
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's service medical and dental records are believed to be on permanent loan to the VA and are not available for review.
3. The applicant enlisted in the Regular Army on 31 October 1965. He completed basic, airborne, and advanced individual training. He was initially awarded military occupational specialty (MOS) 11B (Light Weapons Infantryman) and later 95B (Military Policeman).
4. He served in Vietnam from 9 May 1966 through 12 December 1967 while assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 173rd Airborne Brigade.
5. On 21 May 1968, he was honorably discharged for the purpose of immediate reenlistment. The DD Form 214 he was issued at the time does not show award of the Purple Heart. He reenlisted on 22 May 1968 in his MOS of 95B.
6. He again served in Vietnam from 12 March 1970 through 10 February 1971 while assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 173rd Airborne Brigade.
7. On 21 May 1974, he was honorably discharged at the completion of required active service. The DD Form 214 he received for this period of service does not show he was awarded or authorized the Purple Heart.
8. His record contains a DA Form 20 (Enlisted Qualification Record) that shows in:
a. item 40 (Wounds) no entry (blank); and
b. item 41 (Awards and Decorations) a list of awards; however, no Purple Heart is listed.
9. The medical record provided by the applicant shows he received a half-inch laceration to the left flank from a knife that was cleaned and sutured. A follow-up note describes the injury as a stab wound to the left lumbar back. The record does not indicate the cause of the knife wound or indicate that it was the result of enemy action.
10. Review of The Adjutant General's Office, Casualty Division's Vietnam casualty listing does not show the applicant's name as a casualty.
11. 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 for the Purple Heart pertaining to the applicant.
12. Army Regulation 600-8-22, paragraph 2-8 provides that the Purple Heart is awarded to an individual who is wounded in action against an enemy of the United States, the armed force of a foreign country which is or has been engaged, while serving with a friendly foreign forces against an opposing force even though the U.S. is not engaged, as the result of any act of such enemy or opposing force or as a result an act of any hostile foreign force. Substantiating evidence must be provided to verify that the wound was the result of hostile action, the wound must have required treatment by a medical officer, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. While the applicant clearly sustained a knife wound while serving in Vietnam there is no documentation that the wound was the result of enemy action. Without verification that the wound was the result of enemy action, there is insufficient evidence to show entitlement to the Purple Heart.
2. In view of the foregoing, there is an insufficient evidentiary basis for granting the applicant's requested relief.
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) AR20130004024
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