BOARD DATE: 17 December 2013
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20130007822
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 that while serving in Vietnam he sustained a laceration to his finger. He was offered but declined award of the Purple Heart at that time but would now like to receive it.
3. The applicant provides two pages of his DA Form 20 (Enlisted Qualification Record).
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 served in the Army of the United States on active duty from 8 December 1965 through 7 December 1967 in military occupational specialty 51B (Carpenter).
3. His DA Form 20 provides the following:
* service in Vietnam with Company C, 84th Engineer Battalion (Construction) from 28 May 1966 through 15 May 1967
* temporary assignment to the 249th General Hospital, Japan from 17 August 1966 through 15 September 1966 as a patient
* Item 40 (Wounds) is blank
* award of the Vietnam Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal with Device (1960)
4. The applicant's DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge) lists his awards as the Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal with Device (1960), and the National Defense Service Medal.
5. The applicant's service medical and dental records are believed to be on permanent loan to the Department of Veterans Affairs and are not available for review. The record does contain a copy of the applicant's separation physical which shows he had received a laceration to his right index finger with no limitation of motion at the time of separation. There is no further information as to where, when, or how this injury occurred.
6. 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. A review of the Vietnam Casualty List failed to locate the applicant's name showing he sustained a combat wound while serving in Vietnam.
7. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) 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:
The record contains no evidence to support a finding that the applicant's laceration of his right index finger was the result of hostile action. Without a record of treatment for a wound sustained as the result of enemy action entitlement to the Purple Heart cannot be established.
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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