IN THE CASE OF:	   

		BOARD DATE:	  19 May 2015

		DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20140017020 


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, in effect, award of the Purple Heart.  

2.  The applicant states he was knocked unconscious after an explosion on his base (landing zone (LZ) Betty in Phan Thiet, Vietnam) on or around 30 January 1968.  He believes he should have been awarded the Purple Heart for the combat injury and he would like to be examined for a traumatic brain injury.  

3.  The applicant provides three eyewitness statements.

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 7 November 1966.

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

* Item 31 (Foreign Service), he served in Vietnam from 8 October 1967 through 14 September 1968 
* Item 38 (Record of Assignments), no entry indicating he was hospitalized in a patient status 
* Item 40 (Wounds), no entries
* Item 41 (Awards and Decorations), no listing of the Purple Heart

4.  His service record does not contain orders that show he was awarded the Purple Heart or medical documentation which shows he was wounded in action or treated for those wounds.  The Vietnam casualty roster does not list his name.

5.  He was honorably released from active duty on 6 November 1969.  His DD Form 214 does not show award of the Purple Heart.

6.  He provided eye witness statements from his former fellow Soldiers who stated: 

	a.  He was a combat medic assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 506th Airborne Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division.  Their base camp was near LZ Betty just outside of Phan Thiet, South Vietnam, which came under attack by mortar and rocket fire on or about 29 January 1968.  On that night, he was a volunteer at the Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) station helping to make phone calls for Soldiers to talk with their loved ones back at home.  They were on the air that night starting around 10:30 pm then the signal faded out around 1:00 am.  The mortar fire started as they were saying goodnight to each other.  He was just about to run to his hooch [temporary shelter] on the other side of the base when a rocket or mortar round exploded nearby the communications center about 50 yards or so from the MARS station.  When he got up from the ground he saw the applicant down so he ran to him.  The applicant was unconscious and blood was seeping from a head wound.  He could only see this from the light coming off the numerous explosions surrounding them.  He and another Soldier carried the applicant into the communications center and laid him on top of a table so they could examine him further.  He removed the applicant's clothes in search of other injuries when the applicant regained consciousness.  The applicant was unconscious for at least five minutes or maybe more.  He found no injuries other than the head wound and he knew that, at the very least, the applicant had suffered a concussion.  Today, this type of injury would be called a traumatic brain injury.  Symptoms from this kind of injury may not show up until years later.  The communications center where the applicant was assigned was also under attack and explosions were occurring all around them.  They carried the applicant to a bunker and this is when he discovered the ammo dump was on fire and more explosions were coming from this location.  He left instructions for the men to try to keep the applicant awake and to get him to the Clearing Station (field hospital) when it was safe to do so.  

	b.  He was a former specialist five who was at LZ Betty, Phan Thiet, Vietnam when it was attacked during the Tet Offensive of 1968.  The attack began with four rockets into the ammo dump and their compound was only 100 yards from the dump.  There were three explosions and some of them got concussions.  Shrapnel fell all over them.  The applicant was in the communications center at the time of the attack and he walked out of the building into pitch darkness.  The building was surrounded by 10' steel plate walls filled with 3' of sand.  As the applicant ran out of the building, he thought he had cleared the plates so he ran towards the bunker but he wasn't clear of the wall.  The applicant ran into the wall and knocked himself unconscious.  A medic who was using the MARS station in their compound ran to help the applicant thinking he was shot or hit by shrapnel.  Many of them still suffer Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from the shock of the explosions of the mortars and the fighting with their rifles.  They were not used to fighting because they were trained in electronics and others were trained in diesel mechanics.  They were situated on the edge of a 209' cliff to their back and a graveyard with raised gravestones for the enemy to hide behind as they shot mortars and small arms fire.  Phan Thiet was where Ho Chi Min taught school and the last battle of the French before they pulled out.  This was an important city to North Vietnam.

	c.  He was a former fellow Soldier who served with the applicant in his detachment at LZ Betty in Vietnam.  He described the incidents that occurred on the night of Tet 1968 campaign at LZ Betty.  The applicant was one of the guys that they thought they had lost during the attack.  He instructed the guys to clear the communications center for the bunker as rockets and mortars were landing on the center.  After making sure all the guys were out, he ran to the generator building to make sure it was clear and he saw a body lying on the ground.  He thought the applicant was dead; but he later found out the applicant ran into the side of the "PSP" they were putting up to fill with sand for protection.  About that time, the ammo dump beside them blew up.  

7.  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 U.S. Army Human Resources Command Military Awards Branch, failed to reveal any orders for the Purple Heart pertaining to the applicant.


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 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 contention that he was knocked unconscious after an explosion on his base (LZ Betty in Phan Thiet, Vietnam) on or around 30 January 1968 is acknowledged.  However, his service record is void of evidence which indicates he sustained an injury as a result of hostile action.  His name is not listed on the Vietnam casualty roster.

2.  By regulation, in order to award the Purple Heart, it is necessary to establish that a Soldier was wounded as a result of enemy action, the wound required treatment by medical personnel, and the treatment must have been made a matter of official record.  

3.  The eyewitness statements provided by the applicant were carefully considered; however, these statements alone are insufficient as a basis to grant him award of the Purple Heart.  Based on these statements, it appears the applicant ran from the communications center during the mortar fire attack and ran into the wall surrounding the building and knocked himself unconscious.  

4.  In the absence of evidence that shows he was wounded or injured as a result of hostile action and the treatment was made a matter of official record, there is an insufficient basis upon which to award him the Purple Heart.

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)                                         AR20140017020



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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20140017020



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