IN THE CASE OF:	  

		BOARD DATE:	  12 November 2013

		DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20130005886 


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:

	a.  He thinks his captain made an error in not awarding him the Purple Heart [while he was serving in Vietnam].  He was shoved into a bunker, knocked out, and he had to be airlifted to a hospital where he received stitches in his head below and above his left eye.  He has experienced migraine headaches since he left the Army.

	b.  He asked the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) about this in 2005.  They said since he didn't say anything about it when he was discharged that he should be denied compensation.  He didn't even know he could file a claim but ignorance is no excuse.

	c.  He thought since he served in the Plain of Reeds, Vietnam, where they dumped a lot of Agent Orange, that he might be getting Parkinson's disease so his doctor sent him to a neurologist.  He was told he had essential tremors which can be caused by heredity or from a head injury.  Since the only head injury he has ever gotten was in Vietnam, he asked for another VA hearing for his tremors and headaches and again he was denied compensation.  The VA doctor who examined him at that time, and whom he thinks was a little "off," said his injury had nothing to do with his tremors and that his headaches would stop when he reached 70 years of age.  This was determined by just talking to him with no examination of any kind.
	d.  If this was dependent on the circumstances in which he received the injury he can understand that.  However, one night, not long after [he was injured], he had a friend killed and another wounded by friendly fire.  His thought is that you are just as dead by friendly fire as you are by hostile fire. 

3.  The applicant provides his DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge), a photograph, a Standard Form 600 (Chronological Record of Medical Care), a statement of support, and three pages from a book titled In the Land of Nine Dragons.

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 4 June 1968 and he held military occupational specialties (MOS) 11B (Light Weapons Infantryman) and 64B (Heavy Vehicle Driver).  He served in Vietnam from 8 November 1968 to 9 November 1969.

3.  He was honorably released from active duty on 3 June 1970 and he was transferred to the U.S. Army Reserve.  He completed 2 years of creditable active service.

4.  The DD Form 214 he was issued does not show the Purple Heart.  His records are void of orders awarding him the Purple Heart.

5.  Item 40 (Wounds) of his DA Form 20 (Enlisted Qualification Record) is blank and item 41 (Awards and Decorations) does not show the Purple Heart.

6.  A review of the Adjutant General's Casualty Division's Vietnam casualty listing failed to show his 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 a Standard Form 600, wherein, in part, it shows he was treated at the battalion aid station in Vietnam on:

* 17 January 1969, when sutures around his left eye were removed and sutures in his head were to be left in for a few more days
* 20 January 1969, when two sutures from his head were removed and the wound was healed

9.  The applicant also provides a letter, dated 28 December 2001, wherein a former Soldier stated he served in Vietnam with the applicant and they bunked next to each other.  He was with the applicant the day he got hurt; he was knocked into a building and had to be taken to the hospital.  He had stitches in his head and above his left eye and he had to wear a patch over his eye for several days.

10.  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 criteria for award of the Purple Heart requires the submission of substantiating evidence to verify that a Soldier received a wound/injury as a result of hostile action, the wound/injury required medical treatment by medical personnel, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.

2.  Although the applicant may have received stitches to his head while he was serving in Vietnam, the evidence of record does not show and he has not provided any evidence that shows these stitches were the result of a wound that was incurred as a result of enemy action. 


3.  His record is void of evidence that shows he was wounded or injured as a result of hostile action.  His name is not listed on the Vietnam casualty roster, his DA Form 20 does not indicate he received a combat-related wound, and the medical record he provided does not show the stitches he had removed were the result of a wound he received caused by hostile action.  

4.  In the absence of documentation that conclusively shows he was wounded or injured as a result of enemy action, there is an insufficient evidentiary basis upon which to award the applicant the Purple Heart in this case.

5.  Nevertheless, this action in no way diminishes the sacrifices made by the applicant in service to our Nation.  The applicant and all Americans should be justifiably proud of his service in arms.

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)                                         AR20130005886



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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20130005886



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