PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:        

	BOARD DATE:            2 December 1998
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AC98-11673

	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	
	Mr.	Jessie B. Strickland		Analyst	

	The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr.	Raymond V. O’Connor, Jr.		Chairperson	
	Mr.	George D. Paxson		Member	
	Mr.	John H. Kern		Member	

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

	The applicant requests correction of military records as stated in the application to the Board and as restated herein.

	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 that he be awarded the Bronze Star Medal (BSM) for valor in combat in Vietnam.

3.  The applicant states, in effect, that he was wounded in Vietnam in a firefight with the North Vietnamese Army on 6 December 1967 and was awarded the BSM for valor with all of his comrades.  He states that his name was included on orders with his comrades but that he never received the orders or the medal.

4.  The applicant’s military records show that the applicant was inducted on 18 October 1966.  He successfully completed his training as an infantry indirect fire crewman and was transferred to Vietnam on 19 April 1967.

5.  He was assigned as an assistant gunner in Company A, 2d Battalion, 17th Infantry Brigade, 25th Infantry Division.

6.  On 6 December 1967, while on a search and destroy mission, the applicant was wounded in the left thigh by enemy small arms fire and was evacuated to the 93rd Evacuation hospital in Vietnam.  He was subsequently evacuated to a hospital in Japan and then to a Naval hospital in Long Island, New York.

7.  Orders were published on 7 December 1967 awarding the applicant the Purple Heart (PH).

8.  On 1 March 1968 he was transferred to Fort Dix, New Jersey, where he remained until he was honorably released from active duty on 17 October 1968 on the expiration of his term of service.  He was released in the pay grade of E-5 and was transferred to the USAR Control Group (Reinforcement).  He had served 2 years of total active service and was awarded the Purple Heart, the Vietnam Service Medal, the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, and 1 overseas service bar.  There is no indication in his records that he was recommended for or awarded the BSM for his service in Vietnam.

9. Army Regulation 600-8-22 serves as the authority for award of the BSM.  It states, in pertinent part, that the BSM is awarded to any person who, while serving in any capacity in or with the Army of the United States after 6 December 1941, distinguished him or herself by heroic or meritorious achievement or service, not involving participation in aerial flight, in connection with military operations against an armed enemy; or while engaged in enemy operations involving conflict with an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party.  Award of the BSM is contingent upon approval of a recommendation for award of the BSM.

10.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 also serves as the authority for award of the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB).  It states, in pertinent part, that to be eligible for the CIB, an individual must be an infantryman with an infantry military occupational specialty (MOS) and must perform duty as an infantryman, as a member of an infantry unit of brigade or smaller size, during any period in which that unit was engaged in ground combat.  Battle participation credit alone is not sufficient. 

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  There is no evidence in the available records to show that the applicant was ever recommended for or awarded the BSM for his service in Vietnam.  Therefore, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, there is no basis to grant his request.

2.  However, there is sufficient evidence in his records, based on the circumstances surrounding the award of his PH, to show that he should have been awarded the CIB, for his combat service as an infantryman in Vietnam.

3.  Therefore, it would be appropriate to award the applicant the CIB for his service in Vietnam. 

4.  In view of the foregoing, the applicant’s records should be corrected as recommended below.

RECOMMENDATION:

1.  That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected by showing that the individual concerned was awarded the CIB for his service in Vietnam.

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

BOARD VOTE:  

__jhk ___  ___rvo___  ___gp __  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		______________________
		        CHAIRPERSON