PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:  

	BOARD DATE:            30 September 1998                                     
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AC98-08464

	I certify that hereinafter is recorded the true and complete record of the proceedings of the Army Board for Correction of Military Records in the case of the above-named individual.  

	Mr. Loren G. Harrell		Director	
	Mrs. Nancy Amos .		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Ms. Irene N. Wheelwright		Chairperson	
	Mr. Raymond V. O’Connor, Jr.		Member	
	Mr. James M. Alward		Member	

	The applicant and counsel if any, did not appear before the Board.

	The Board considered the following evidence:

	Exhibit A - Application for correction of military 
                records
	Exhibit B - Military Personnel Records (including
	            advisory opinion, if any)

FINDINGS:

1.  The applicant has exhausted or the Board has waived the requirement for exhaustion of all administrative remedies afforded by existing law or regulations.

2.  The applicant requests award of the Purple Heart.  

3.  The applicant states he was wounded when the armored personnel carrier he was in ran over a mine.  He also provides copies of Bronze Star Medal and Army Commendation Medal orders/citations he received while in Vietnam and stated telephonically that he had been awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge.

4.  The applicant’s military records are not available.  The information contained herein was obtained from alternate sources.

5.  The applicant was inducted into the Army on 11 July 1969.  He arrived in Vietnam in December 1969.  Medical treatment records show that on 23 April 1970, the tracked vehicle he was in was involved in a mine accident.  He initially received treatment by field medics for lacerations.  Shortly thereafter he was treated for back strain related to the accident.

6.  Army Regulation 600-8-22, provides policy, criteria and administrative instructions concerning individual military decorations.  In pertinent part, it states that a wound for which the award of the Purple Heart was made must have required treatment by a medical officer and records of medical treatment for wounds or injuries received in action must have been made a matter of official record.

7.  That regulation also provides for the award of the Combat Infantryman Badge to a soldier who is an infantryman satisfactorily performing infantry duties, who is assigned to an infantry unit during such time as the unit is engaged in active ground combat, and must actively participate in such ground combat.  

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant has provided sufficient evidence to show he is entitled to award of the Purple Heart.

2.  The applicant stated he was awarded the CIB.  However, his records are not available and it cannot be determined at this late date from the available evidence that he held an infantry military occupational specialty and performed infantry, vice armor, duties.

3.  The applicant has provided evidence to show he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and two awards of the Army Commendation Medal.

4.  In view of the foregoing, it would be in the interest of justice  to correct the applicant’s records as recommended below.
RECOMMENDATION:

1.  That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected by:

     a.  awarding the individual concerned the Purple Heart; and

     b.  adding the Purple Heart, the Army Commendation Medal (1st oak leaf cluster), the Bronze Star Medal, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal with device 1960 to his DD Form 214 ending period 8 February 1971.

2.  That so much of the application as is in excess of the foregoing be denied 

BOARD VOTE:  

________  ________  ________  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		______________________
		        CHAIRPERSON