IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 21 August 2014
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20140000607
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. He states he feels he was wounded and lost blood as a result of action while saving an ambushed patrol during the Korean Conflict in early 1953. He was ordered to knock out the machine gun with a 57 millimeter recoilless rifle while serving in the position of squad leader.
3. He states he could see flashes from the gun as he fired around at the cave and destroyed it with the first round he fired. He knew the enemy would retaliate due to the back blast. He was hit in the left knee cap with a large pencil-sized splinter.
4. The applicant adds that due to the ambush at hand, the medic was not available to treat him so he pulled out the splinter himself and that is when the blood came out. He saved a lot of lives and he believes he is entitled to award of the Purple Heart.
5. The applicant provides his DD Form 214 (Report of Separation from the Armed Forces of the United States) and a collage of four photographs.
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 applicants service personnel records were lost or destroyed in a fire at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in 1973. The records available to the ABCMR were provided by the applicant. The primary record available to this Board is the applicants DD Form 214.
3. The applicant's DD Form 214 shows he was inducted into the Army and entered active duty on 5 February 1951. He was honorably discharged on
16 February 1954 after completing 3 years and 12 days of net service. He served with Company K, 14th Infantry in Korea. His foreign and/or sea service shows he completed 1 year, 3 months, and 26 days. Item 29 (Wounds Received as a Result of Action with Enemy) contains the entry "None."
4. The applicant's name does not appear in the Korean War Casualty File for the period 11 December 1951 through 5 May 1954 as being wounded in action.
5. A health record research project, commonly referred to as the "Surgeon Generals Office (SGO) Files," involved transposing the hospital admission card data from the periods of World War II and the Korean conflict onto magnetic tape. In 1988, the National Research Council made these tape files available to the NPRC. The availability of the information to the NPRC received considerable publicity by the various veterans' service organizations, and was believed that these tapes would become a valuable substitute for the records lost in the NPRC fire of 1973.
6. A search of the SGO files revealed that he was hospitalized during several periods while serving on active duty. However, none of the periods of his hospitalization show he was injured as a result of hostile action or received medical treatment for such injuries.
7. He provided two photographs of what appear to be a "before" and "after" shot of a bunker with a mounted weapon. He also identifies himself in two other photographs.
8. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides that the Purple Heart 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, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. By regulation, in order to award the Purple Heart it is necessary to establish that a Soldier was wounded in action; that the wound required treatment by medical personnel; and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record. There is no evidence and he has not provided sufficient evidence which shows he was wounded or treated for wounds due to hostile action.
2. The veracity of his claim that he was wounded while serving in the Korean War is not in question; however, the regulatory burden of proof necessary to support award of the Purple Heart has not been satisfied 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) AR20140000607
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20140000607
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