2.  The applicant requests his records be corrected to show he was awarded the Combat Medical Badge.  He states he was awarded the Badge around June 1967.

3.  The applicant’s military records show he entered the Army on 15 August 1963.  He served in Vietnam from 14 March 1967 - 10 March 1968.  His DA Form 20, Personnel Qualification Record, shows he was assigned to three different units, 2d Battalion, 47th Infantry;  4th Battalion, 39th Infantry; and            3d Battalion, 60th Infantry, all with the 9th Infantry Division.  He served as a medical specialist in all three assignments.

4.  The applicant’s statement includes details of some of his units’ activities.

5.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 provides, in pertinent part, that the Combat Medical Badge could be awarded to Medical Department personnel assigned or attached to infantry units of brigade or smaller size who satisfactorily perform medical duties while the unit is engaged in actual ground combat, provided they are personally present and under fire.  The award was established to recognize medical aidmen who shared the same hazards and hardships of ground combat on a daily basis with the infantry soldier.

6.  A check with the Awards Branch, Total Army Personnel Command indicated that had the Combat Medical Badge been awarded to the applicant, it would have been published on special orders vice general orders and so would not have been forwarded to that office.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant has provided a credible statement to show he worked as a medical aidman with an infantry unit while under fire in Vietnam and so would have been eligible for the Combat Medical Badge.

2.  In view of the foregoing, the applicant is entitled to award of the Combat Medical Badge.

RECOMMENDATION:

That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected by showing that the individual is entitled to award of the Combat Medical Badge.

BOARD VOTE:

                       GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

                       GRANT FORMAL HEARING

                       DENY APPLICATION

                                                                         
    CHAIRPERSON