IN THE CASE OF: BOARD DATE: 28 January 2014 DOCKET NUMBER: AR20130009277 THE BOARD CONSIDERED THE FOLLOWING EVIDENCE: 1. Application for correction of military records (with supporting documents provided, if any). 2. Military Personnel Records and advisory opinions (if any). THE APPLICANT'S REQUEST, STATEMENT, AND EVIDENCE: 1. The applicant requests award of the Purple Heart. 2. The applicant states: a. He believes he deserves to be awarded the Purple Heart as he sustained multiple injuries during his tour of service from 11 May 1968 through 11 May 1969. He received injuries to his hip, knee, shoulder, and hearing loss when his Landing Craft Mechanized-8 boat was blown right out from under him. b. Apparently, the record is not showing the injuries or scars he sustained or the boats and equipment he lost during the Vietnam War. He is attaching a log entry page from the 36th Evacuation Hospital in Vietnam, dated 1969, showing multiple hospital visits due to injuries sustained during the war while serving in the U.S. Army. He suffered multiple physical and mental injuries while fighting for the United States. He has been fighting for award of the Purple Heart for 44 years. He does not remember the exact dates nor did he keep records from so long ago. c. In 1968 and 1969 during the Tet Offensive he served in the Army in Vietnam and ran gunboats along with their Navy partners in what was then called the "Brown Water Navy, River Rats." He transported and delivered badly needed supplies such as bombs, ammunition, barbed wire, etc., that were too heavy and dangerous for helicopters to deliver to the troops in base camps and support camps throughout Vietnam. During the first part of his tour in Vietnam he was on gunboats running back and forth between the Demilitarized Zone to Qui Nhon. d. They sustained numerous bullet holes and battle scars to their boat and suffered injuries. They were in their gunboat in Vung Tau waiting on repairs when they were suddenly hit by rockets. It blew the entire turret off the boat along with him. He landed in the water and felt and saw the shrapnel and debris crashing down all around him, but he could not hear a thing. Next, he remembers two men dragging him towards a beach. He remembers nothing else; he woke-up in the 36th Evacuation Hospital where he believes he spent a week before being sent back to fight on a different gunboat. e. After dropping a load in Dong Tam and taking the boat across heavily shark-infested waters to their base camp he noticed their engine room was full of water. They fired the ammunition they had onboard to draw attention to them for rescue. They lost their engines and they were "dead in the water" in 10 to 12-foot seas when a huge wave came over them and tore the hooch containing all of their belongings and equipment completely off the board. Another wave hit and the last thing he remembers is hanging on to a safety chain along the boat in water up to his knees. The boat sank right out from under him. To this day, he does not know how he got off that boat. 3. The applicant provides copies of his Standard Form (SF) 66 (Health Record - Chronological Record of Medical Care), DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge), and a map of Vietnam. CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE: 1. Title 10, U.S. Code, section 1552(b), provides that applications for correction of military records must be filed within 3 years after discovery of the alleged error or injustice. This provision of law also allows the Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) to excuse an applicant's failure to timely file within the 3-year statute of limitations if the ABCMR determines it would be in the interest of justice to do so. While it appears the applicant did not file within the time frame provided in the statute of limitations, the ABCMR has elected to conduct a substantive review of this case and, only to the extent relief, if any, is granted, has determined it is in the interest of justice to excuse the applicant's failure to timely file. In all other respects, there are insufficient bases to waive the statute of limitations for timely filing. 2. The applicant enlisted in the Regular Army on 12 January 1967. He completed training and was awarded military occupational specialty 61E (Water Craft Operator). He served in Vietnam from 17 May 1968 through 18 May 1969. 3. He provided a copy of an SF 600 which shows he was seen at the 36th Evaluation Hospital on/for the following: * 21 February 1969 - a penetrating wound to the left hip; x-ray negative for fragments; the form does not explain how this injury was sustained and/or if it was a result of hostile action * 1 March 1969 - x-ray of his left knee; the form does not explain how this injury was sustained and/or if it was a result of hostile action * 9 March 1969 - athlete's foot * 27 August 1969 - low back strain * 16 September 1969 - same problem 4. He was honorably released from active duty on 9 January 1970 and was transferred the U.S. Army Reserve Control Group (Reinforcement). He was credited with completion of 2 years, 11 months, and 28 days of net active service. His DD Form 214 lists the: * National Defense Service Medal * Vietnam Service Medal * Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal with Device 1960 * Marksman Marksmanship Qualification Badge with Rifle (M-14 and M-16) Bars 5. There is no evidence of record that shows he was injured or wounded as a result of hostile action or that he was awarded the Purple Heart. Nothing in several typical sources show he was wounded or injured as a result of hostile action. a. Item 40 (Wounds) of his contemporaneous DA Form 20 (Enlisted Qualification Record) does not show a combat wound or injury. Army Regulation 600-200 (Enlisted Personnel Management System), chapter 9, stated a brief description of wounds or injuries (including injury from gas) requiring medical treatment received through hostile or enemy action, including those requiring hospitalization would be entered in item 40 of the DA Form 20. This regulation further stated that the date the wound or injury occurred would also be placed in item 40. b. A review of the Awards and Decorations Computer Assisted Retrieval System maintained by the U.S. Army Human Resources Command, which is an index of general orders issued during the Vietnam era between 1965 and 1973, failed to reveal any orders for the Purple Heart pertaining to him. c. His name is not shown on the Vietnam casualty listing. This is a Microfiche Listing of Vietnam Era Casualties that is used to verify entitlement to the Purple Heart. d. His personnel records do not contain an official Army message or a Western Union Telegram notifying his next of kin of an injury or wound sustained in action. This was the proper notification of injuries at the time. e. His available medical records, including his separation physical, do not mention a combat wound/injury or treatment. 6. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Award) states the Purple Heart is awarded for a wound sustained while in action against an enemy or 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 medical personnel, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: 1. By regulation, to be awarded the Purple Heart it is necessary to establish that a Soldier was wounded or injured in action. There must be evidence confirming the wound for which the award is being made was received as a direct result of, or was caused by enemy action, that the wound was treated by medical personnel, and a record of this treatment must have been made a matter of official record. 2. His service record is void of any evidence that shows he was wounded or injured as a result of hostile action during his period of service in Vietnam. His name does not appear on the Vietnam casualty listing and his DA Form 20 does not indicate he received a combat-related wound. Additionally, his service medical records, which are necessary to confirm that treatment was required, are not available for review. The medical documents he provides do not conclusively show that enemy/hostile action caused his injuries. 3. Notwithstanding his contention, his sincerity, and the SF 600 he submitted, in the absence of additional documentation that conclusively shows he was wounded or injured as a result of enemy action and treated for those wounds, there is insufficient evidence upon which to base award of the Purple Heart in this case. Therefore, he is not entitled to award of the Purple Heart and its addition to his DD Form 214 at this time. BOARD VOTE: ________ ________ ________ GRANT FULL RELIEF ________ ________ ________ GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF ________ ________ ________ GRANT FORMAL HEARING ____X____ ___X_____ ____X____ DENY APPLICATION BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION: The evidence presented does not demonstrate the existence of a probable error or injustice. Therefore, the Board determined that the overall merits of this case are insufficient as a basis for correction of the records of the individual concerned. _______ _ __X_____ ___ CHAIRPERSON I certify that herein is recorded the true and complete record of the proceedings of the Army Board for Correction of Military Records in this case. ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20130009277 3 ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 1 ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20130009277 2 ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 1