PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF: 

	BOARD DATE:            14 December 2000  
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2000046088

	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. Carl W. S. Chun		Director	
	Ms. Deborah L. Brantley		Senior Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Ms. June Hajjar		Chairperson	
	Mr. Richard T. Dunbar		Member	
	Mr. Hubert O. Fry		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.  He states he was wounded in 1969 during an attack on his company.  

3.  Records available to the Board indicate the applicant entered active duty on 
18 September 1967 and served in Vietnam between March 1968 and April 1969. His service medical records confirm he was treated by a medical doctor at an aid station on 23 February 1969 for a laceration to his right knee, which occurred during "explosions last night."  He was transferred to the 9th Support Hospital for removal of "foreign bodies and closure."  His separation physical examination, completed in April 1969, confirms the applicant's "superficial fragment wound" to his right knee.  The applicant was honorably discharged on 22 April 1969.  His DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge) does not reflect entitlement to the Purple Heart.

4.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 provides, in pertinent part, that the Purple Heart is awarded for wounds 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.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  While the evidence notes that the applicant's wound was only superficial it did require treatment by a medical doctor and was made a matter of official record.  As such the applicant is entitled to an award of the Purple Heart.

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

RECOMMENDATION:

That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected by awarding the individual concerned the Purple Heart.

BOARD VOTE:  

__jh____  ___rtd_  __hof___  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		______________________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2000046088	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	20001214	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE	(HD, GD, UOTHC, UD, BCD, DD, UNCHAR)	
DATE OF DISCHARGE	YYYYMMDD	
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY	AR . . . . .  	
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	Grant	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.	107.00	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.