IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 19 March 2014
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20130012914
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 he be granted a reconsideration of the denial for award of the Purple Heart and to be shown to be entitled to award of the Ranger Tab.
2. The applicant states he has spent the past 42 years trying to forget Vietnam and was going to accept the 2006 denial of the Purple Heart. However, after talking to personnel at the Department of Veterans Affairs, he has decided to again seek a correction of his records. He has located a fellow Soldier who attests to having been present when he was wounded. He states he completed Ranger training and was told to go home to await orders to Vietnam and his Ranger certificate. The orders came but not the certificate.
3. The applicant provides copies of his DD Form 214 (Report of Transfer or Discharge), two letters of support for award of the Purple Heart, and the 4 April 2006 Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) decisional document AR20050012750.
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 original request for the Purple Heart was denied due a lack of official medical records verifying that he received a wound as the result of hostile action. The personal statements provided constitute new evidence warranting a reconsideration of this issue.
3. The applicant was inducted into the Army of the United States on 10 April 1969, completed training, and was awarded military occupational specialty (MOS) 11B (Light Weapons Infantryman). He was subsequently awarded
MOS 11F (Infantry Operations and Intelligence Specialist).
4. His DA Form 20 (Enlisted Qualification Record) shows:
a. completion of the Light Weapons Infantryman (11B) course in 1969;
b. completion of the Infantry Leadership Course Phase I (MOS 11F) in 1969; and
c. completion of the Basic Airborne course on 19 December 1969.
5. The medical treatment records provided during the earlier application shows treatment for a boil.
6. In their statements the fellow Soldiers recount that during a helicopter resupply they came under mortar attack. During the attack the applicant was hit in the neck by a piece of shrapnel. He was treated by the local medic but the wound became infected and he had to be medically evacuated later for continued treatment.
7. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) states:
a. the Ranger Tab is awarded for successful completion of a Ranger Course conducted by the U.S. Army Infantry School or the Ranger Training Command
b. the Purple Heart is awarded for a wound sustained while in action against an enemy or 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 statements by fellow Soldiers, authored 42 years after the event, state they recall that the applicant was wounded as the result of a mortar attack. However, the applicant's available medical record shows treatment for a boil not the result of an infected wound from shrapnel. Therefore, there is insufficient evidence to award the applicant the Purple Heart.
2. While the applicant is shown to have completed basic airborne training, there is no evidence he completed the full Ranger Course or was awarded or is entitled to wear the Ranger Tab.
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) AR20130012914
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20130012914
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