IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 8 July 2014
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20130020103
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 records to show award of the Purple Heart.
2. The applicant states he received a shrapnel wound in the line of fire and believes he is entitled to the Purple Heart.
3. The applicant provides copies of:
* Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Rating Decision, dated 26 January 2011
* WD AGO Form 53-33 (Enlisted Records and Report of Separation Honorable Discharge)
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 applicants 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 applicants 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 military records are not available to the Board for review. A fire destroyed approximately 18 million service members' records at the National Personnel Records Center in 1973. It is believed that his records were lost or destroyed in that fire. However, there were sufficient documents remaining in a reconstructed record for the Board to conduct a fair and impartial review of this case.
3. The applicant's WD AGO Form 53-55 shows:
a. he was inducted into the Army of the United States on 12 September 1944 and entered active duty the same day;
b. he served as a machinegun noncommissioned officer (NCO) in Company G, 31st Regiment;
c. he served in the Pacific from 25 February 1945 to 11 August 1946;
d. he participated in the Ryukyus campaign;
e. he was awarded the Asiatic Pacific Theater Ribbon with one bronze battle star, World War II Victory Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, Army of Occupation Medal with Japan clasp, three Overseas Service Bars, and he was issued the Army Lapel Button;
f. in item 34 (Wounds Received in Action) the entry: None; and
g. he was honorably separated on 21 October 1946 as a staff sergeant.
4. A 31 August 1946 physical examination conducted prior to his separation does not list any wounds.
5. In a 23 March 1966 self-authored letter to The Adjutant General, Department of the Army, the applicant requested consideration for award of the Purple Heart. He explained that he had been wounded in the left hand by shrapnel while serving on Okinawa in 1945. The company medic cleaned and bandaged the wound and he continued his duty with his unit. He included with his request a letter dated 18 March 1966, from R.P. M------, MD, stating that by history the applicant had shrapnel in his left hand. An examination revealed a foreign body in the dorsum of the left hand.
6. In a partially burned letter his request was denied because no record was found showing medical treatment was given to him for a wound received in action. Therefore, he was not entitled to the Purple Heart.
7. The applicant provides a 26 January 2011 VA rating decision letter showing the VA granted him service-connection for scars, shrapnel wound, left hand with an evaluation of 0 percent effective 29 October 2012.
8. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides that 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 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 requests his records be corrected to show award of the Purple Heart. He states he received a shrapnel wound in the line of fire and believes he is entitled to the Purple Heart.
2. Regrettably, the applicant's available military records do not show any evidence that the applicant was wounded, that those wounds were the result of hostile action that required treatment by medical personnel, or that the resulting medical treatment was made a matter of official record.
3. In view of the foregoing, there is an insufficient evidentiary basis for granting the applicant's requested relief.
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 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) AR20110012948
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20130020103
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