BOARD DATE: 5 November 2013
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20130004906
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 and correction of his DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge) to show this medal.
2. The applicant states he was injured in Vietnam on or about 15 May 1969 with shrapnel wounds to his left leg, left arm, and the left side of his face. It is important that his records reflect this award for the purpose of future Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits and to have his headstone reflect the Purple Heart.
3. The applicant provides a photocopy of a Purple Heart and his DD Form 214.
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 was inducted into the Army of the United States on 24 July 1968. He was awarded military occupational specialty 13A (Field Artillery Basic) upon completion of initial entry training.
3. His DA Form 20 (Enlisted Qualification Record) shows in:
* item 38 (Record of Assignments) he was assigned as a cannoneer in A Battery, 3rd Battalion, 16th Artillery, Vietnam, during the period 29 April 1969 to 26 March 1970
* item 40 (Wounds) no identified battle wounds
4. A review of the Vietnam casualty list did not reveal the applicant's name.
5. He was honorably released from active duty on 30 March 1970. His DD Form 214 does not show award of the Purple Heart.
6. His record is void of any documents that indicate he was ever wounded in action.
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 Military Awards Branch of the U.S. Army Human Resources Command, failed to reveal any orders for award of the Purple Heart pertaining to the applicant.
8. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) 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 contends he was wounded in action while serving in Vietnam. However, there is no evidence of record and he did not provide any evidence that he incurred an injury as the result of hostile action.
2. In the absence of orders or documentary evidence showing he was wounded or injured as a result of hostile action, treated for such wounds, or that the medical treatment was made a matter of official record, there is no basis for adding the Purple Heart to his DD Form 214.
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.
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