BOARD DATE: 31 May 2016 DOCKET NUMBER: AR20150005830 BOARD VOTE: ________ ________ ________ GRANT FULL RELIEF ________ ________ ________ GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF ________ ________ ________ GRANT FORMAL HEARING __x______ __x______ __x___ DENY APPLICATION 2 Enclosures 1. Board Determination/Recommendation 2. Evidence and Consideration BOARD DATE: 31 May 2016 DOCKET NUMBER: AR20150005830 BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION: The evidence presented does not demonstrate the existence of a probable error or injustice. Therefore, the Board determined 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. BOARD DATE: 31 May 2016 DOCKET NUMBER: AR20150005830 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, the son of a deceased former service member (FSM), requests his late father be awarded the Purple Heart based on the fact that his father contracted tuberculosis while serving in the Republic of Korea. 2. The applicant states: a. His father was inducted into the Army on 26 July 1951 and was transferred to the U.S. Army Reserve (USAR) on 13 August 1953 to complete the remainder of his eight year obligation. He was honorably discharged on 28 July 1959. b. Between 1951 and 1953, while in the Army and on active duty, his father developed pulmonary tuberculosis. His father was granted 100 percent (%) disability for his respiratory condition incurred during active service. His father suffered for years with hardship in breathing and headaches, due to the tuberculosis he contracted in North Korea. c. Tuberculosis is a potentially severe contagious disease that is spread from person to person through the air. Tuberculosis germs may spray into the air if a person with tuberculosis disease of the lungs or throat coughs, speaks, or sneezes. Anyone nearby can breathe tuberculosis germs into their lungs. People with tuberculosis infections do not feel sick and do not have any symptoms; however, they may develop the disease at some time in the future. Tuberculosis usually affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body, such as the brain, the kidneys, or the spine. If people have tuberculosis disease, they need medical help; if they don't get help, they can die. d. The most common category of causes of deaths of prisoners of war (POW) in the Republic of Korea was infectious disease. Overall, tuberculosis and dysentery/diarrhea were the most common causes of death. Although his father was not a POW, he suffered with tuberculosis for years. North Korea was known to have a serious problem with tuberculosis. e. Tuberculosis is a wound to the body that can cause death if not treated on time. His father suffered for years with tuberculosis he contracted while on active duty. If not treated, a gunshot or knife wound can lead to death. The same is true with tuberculosis. Both hold the same weight and fatal outcome and meet the requirements for the Purple Heart. If a serviceman or woman dies, his or her family won't care if a bullet or tuberculosis took their loved one; their pain is the same. If a person suffers from a wound or tuberculosis and their quality of life suffers, it doesn't matter what caused it – they still have to live with the limitation imposed on their bodies. f. His father was admitted to Pereira Leal Clinic on 16 December 1954 for treatment of an incised wound, right hemithorax. The fact that his father received an incised wound while serving, as well as the fact that his father suffered for years because of tuberculosis, should qualify him for the Purple Heart. 3. The applicant provides a three-page letter he sent to the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC), dated 6 November 2014 and identified as NPRC Request Number 2-11833237172, in which he identifies the following documents as Exhibits A through F: * Exhibit A – his father's DD Form 257A (General Discharge Certificate) from the Army of the United States, dated 28 July 1959 * Exhibit B – a letter from a medical doctor, dated 8 December 1954, subject: [FSM], Serial Studies and Interpretation of Chest X-Ray Films, which documents his father's pulmonary tuberculosis * Exhibit C – Veterans Administration (VA) Form 10-2593 (Record of Hospitalization), dated 21 December 1954 * Exhibit D – his father's DD Form 214 (Report of Separation from the Armed Forces of the United States) * Exhibit E – documents from the VA that show his father was awarded 100% service-connected disability for tuberculosis * Exhibit F – his father's Puerto Rican birth certificate, written in the Spanish language and untranslated 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 FSM’s complete military records are not available for review. A fire destroyed approximately 18 million Servicemembers' records at the National Personnel Records Center in 1973. It is believed his records were lost or destroyed in that fire. However, there were sufficient documents remaining in a reconstructed record for the Board to conduct a fair and impartial review of the applicant request in this case. 3. The FSM was inducted into the Army of the United States on 26 July 1951. 4. The FSM was released from active duty on 12 August 1953 and transferred to the USAR the following day. His DD Form 214 shows: * he held military occupational specialty (MOS) 2356 (Field Clerk) * he attained the rank/grade of private (PV2)/E-2 on 26 November 1951 * he was credited with completing 2 years and 14 days of total net service * he was credited with completing 11 months and 16 days of foreign service * he was awarded or authorized the Korean Service Medal with 2 Bronze Stars [bronze service stars] and the United Nations Service Medal * he did not receive any wounds that resulted from action with the enemy 5. The FSM's available record is void of any documentation that shows he was previously awarded the Purple Heart. Similarly, his available record is void of any documentation that shows he was wounded as a result of enemy action. 6. The applicant provides several documents that substantiate the FSM's diagnosed tuberculosis between 1951 and 1953, and a VA Record of Hospitalization that shows the FSM was hospitalized on 16 December 1954, for a condition diagnosed as "incised wound, right hemithorax." REFERENCES: Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides that the Purple Heart is awarded for a wound or wounds sustained in action against an enemy or as a result of hostile action. Substantiating evidence must be provided to verify the wound resulted from hostile action, the wound must have required treatment by medical personnel, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record. Examples of enemy-related injuries that clearly justify award of the Purple Heart are injury(ies) caused by enemy bullets, shrapnel, or other projectiles created by enemy action; injury(ies) caused by enemy placed mines or traps; injury(ies) caused by enemy released chemical, biological, or nuclear agents; and injury(ies) caused by vehicle or aircraft accidents resulting from enemy fire. DISCUSSION: 1. The applicant's request for award of the Purple Heart on behalf of his late father was carefully considered. 2. The Purple Heart award criteria requires the submission of substantiating evidence to verify the proposed recipient was injured or wounded by hostile action, the injury or wound must have required treatment by medical personnel, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record. 3. The applicant contends his father should receive the Purple Heart, based on the fact that his father suffered for years from tuberculosis he contracted in the Republic of Korea, and because his father was hospitalized on 16 December 1954 for treatment of an incised wound, right hemithorax. 4. The available record does not contain orders and the applicant provides no orders that show the FSM was awarded the Purple Heart. There is no other evidence, either in the available record or submitted by the applicant, which substantiates his father's entitlement to the Purple Heart based on the award criteria. His father's hospitalization on 16 December 1954 occurred after both his return from the Republic of Korea and his separation from active duty. 5. There is no evidence in the available records that shows the FSM was wounded or injured as a result of hostile action, treated for such wounds, or that his treatment was made a matter of official record. Tuberculosis is a terrible, debilitating medical condition; however, it is not basis for awarding the Purple Heart. //NOTHING FOLLOWS// ABCMR Record of Proceedings AR20150000953 Enclosure 1 ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20150017490 2 ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Enclosure 1 ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20150005830 4 ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Enclosure 2