MEMORANDUM OF CONSIDERATION

	IN THE CASE OF:   

	BOARD DATE:            3 May 2000                 
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR1999026992

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

	Mr. W. E. Schnupp		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. Raymond V. O'Connor, Jr.		Chairperson	
	Mr. John H. Kern		Member	
	Mr. Ernest W. Lutz, Jr.		Member	

	The Board, established pursuant to authority contained in 10 U.S.C. 1552, convened at the call of the Chairperson on the above date.  In accordance with Army Regulation 15-185, the application and the available military records pertinent to the corrective action requested were reviewed to determine whether to authorize a formal hearing, recommend that the records be corrected without a formal hearing, or to deny the application without a formal hearing if it is determined that insufficient relevant evidence has been presented to demonstrate the existence of probable material error or injustice.

	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)

APPLICANT REQUESTS:  Award of the Purple Heart.

APPLICANT STATES:  That after many years the DVA has recognized service connection for residuals of shell fragment wounds (SFW) to his right upper arm.

In support of his request, he has submitted a copy of his DD Form 214, Report of Transfer or Discharge and a copy of a DVA Rating Decision of 8 March 1999 granting him service connection for scar, SFW, middle third of right upper arm with retained foreign body with evaluation of 0 percent effective 27 February 1984.

EVIDENCE OF RECORD:  The applicant's military records show:

He was inducted on 6 February 1968 and was awarded the MOS of light weapons infantryman and clerk typist.  He served in Vietnam from July 1968 to July 1969 with the 5th Infantry Division as a rifleman and the 25th Infantry Division as a clerk typist.  He was honorably separated on 5 February 1970 in the grade of specialist four.

His DD Form 214 reflects that he was awarded the Vietnam Service Medal, the Vietnam Campaign Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Combat Infantryman Badge and the Expert Badge with rifle bar.  On 27 April 1989, at the applicant’s request, the Army Reserve Personnel Center determined that he was also entitled to the Sharpshooter Badge with machine gun bar and the Marksman Badge with automatic rifle bar.

On 3 March 1999 the DVA in reconsidering a request that was previously denied, determined that the applicant should be granted service connection for a SFW scar to the upper right extremity.  Although the applicant’s service medical records contained no evidence of treatment for a SFW and his personnel records contained no reference to his having been awarded a Purple Heart, the DVA accepted his explanation that he was an infantryman who was wounded in action in the upper right arm but refused treatment at the time.

X-rays of his upper right arm, done in 1998, apparently show that densities in the soft tissue are metallic.

The applicant’s available military records do not show that he was wounded in action or that he was awarded a Purple Heart.

Army Regulation 600-8-22, Military Awards, provides, in pertinent part, 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 by a medical officer, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.
DISCUSSION:  Considering all the evidence, allegations, and information presented by the applicant, together with the evidence of record, applicable law and regulations, it is concluded:

1.  The applicant’s military record contains no evidence and he has provided no evidence that he was wounded as a result of hostile action.

2.  While the DVA determined, some 15 years after the fact, that his SFW to the upper arm was service connected, this determination does not establish that the wound resulted from combat with the enemy, a necessary prerequisite for award of the Purple Heart.

3  In the absence of substantiating evidence showing his wound resulted from action with the enemy, there is no justification to award the Purple Heart.

4.  In view of the foregoing, there is no basis for granting the applicant's request.

DETERMINATION:  The applicant has failed to submit sufficient relevant evidence to demonstrate the existence of probable error or injustice.

BOARD VOTE:

________  ________  ________  GRANT

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

__rvo ___  ___jhk  __  ___ewl  _  DENY APPLICATION

Carl W. S. Chun
		                Director, Army Boards for Correction
			                   Of Military 

INDEX

CASE ID	AR1999026992	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	20000503	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE	(HD, GD, UOTHC, UD, BCD, DD, UNCHAR)	
DATE OF DISCHARGE	YYYYMMDD	
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY	AR .  .  .  .  .  	
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	(DENY)	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.  107.00		
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.