IN THE CASE OF:	

		BOARD DATE:	  11 February 2014

		DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20130007658 


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 (PH).

2.  He states he should be awarded the PH, because near Qui Nhon he drove over a mine and injured his left eye and left knee, but he was not awarded the PH.

3.  He provides his DD Form 214, a self-authored statement, his medical documents, and pictures of a truck.  

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 22 September 1966.

3.  His DA Form 20 (Enlisted Qualification Record) shows in:

* item 31 (Foreign Service) he served in Vietnam from 18 March 1967 to 5 January 1968
* item 38 (Record of Assignments) he was hospitalized in a patient status from 5 to 8 January 1968
* item 40 (Wounds) no entries 
* item 41 (Awards and Decorations) no award of the PH

4.  His service record does not contain orders that show he was awarded the PH and the Vietnam Casualty Roster does not list his name.  

5.  He was honorably released from active duty on 30 September 1969.  

6.  He provided a self-authored statement and he stated:

	a.  On 23 December 1967, he was driving a Ford cube van delivering Vietnamese laborers.  A mine exploded and his left eye and left knee were injured. 

	b.  He was taken to a MASH [Mobile Army Surgical Hospital] unit, treated, and transported to the 67th Evacuation Hospital at Qui Nhon.  He was then sent to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Hospital in Phoenixville, PA.

	c.  He was badly injured, had swallowed a lot of glass, threw up blood, and lost 4 to 6 teeth from the explosion.  He had to wear a patch on his eye for about 5 months.

	d.  The PH is very important to him and his grandchildren.  He has contacted several agencies in the past to help him with this matter, but he was told it was too late.

7.  He also provided:

   a.  Two Standard Forms 502 (Narrative Summary) indicating he was admitted to the U.S. Army Hospital, Valley Forge on 8 January 1968.  He had been air evacuated to the continental United States from Vietnam.  On 23 December 1967 while driving a truck he was injured after being hit with an unknown foreign body about the left eye.  The windshield of the truck exploded and hit him in the face.  He received multiple corneal abrasions and facial lacerations.  He was diagnosed with a Choroidal tear to his left eye, secondary to injury with an unknown foreign body.  

	b.  Four DA Forms 8-275-2 (Clinical Record Cover Sheet), showing he suffered an injury to his left eye (Choroidal tear), secondary to him being hit in eye with an unknown foreign body on 23 December 1967 in Vietnam.  He had multiple corneal abrasions in both eyes.  He was injured while driving a truck when hit by a foreign body.

8.  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 the PH pertaining to the applicant.

9.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides the PH is awarded for a wound sustained 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 applicant's medical documents show his left eye was injured due to a foreign body on 23 December 1967.  

2.  By regulation, in order to be awarded the PH, it is necessary to establish that a Soldier was wounded in action, the wound required treatment by medical personnel, and the treatment must have been made a matter of official record.  

3.  Although the evidence of record shows he was treated and the treatment was made a matter of his official record, his service record does not indicate he was wounded as a result of hostile action.  His name is not listed on the Vietnam Casualty Roster and his DA Form 20 does not show he was wounded in action.

4.  In the absence of evidence that shows he was wounded or injured as a result of hostile action, there is an insufficient basis upon which to base award of the PH in this case.


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)                                         AR20130007658



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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20130007658



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