PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:  

	BOARD DATE:             22 March 2000                 
	DOCKET NUMBER:    AR1999029682

	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. Edmund P. Mercanti		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. James M. Alward		Chairperson	
	Mr. Ted S. Kanamine		Member	
	Mr. Arthur A. Omartian		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 that his Purple Heart be added to his DD Form 214.

3.  The applicant states, in effect, that it was inadvertently omitted.

4.  The applicant’s military records show that he enlisted in the Regular Army on 30 June 1969.

5.  On 11 October 1970, while the applicant was serving in Vietnam in pay grade E-4, he was the subject of a casualty message.  In that message it was stated that the applicant had received multiple fragment wounds to his chest as a result of his detonating a hostile booby trap.  His wounds were reported as not being serious and that he was treated for his wounds and returned to duty.  The applicant’s records contain the certificate he was given with his Purple Heart, but not the orders awarding him that decoration.

6.  The applicant was reduced to pay grade E-1 for various infractions and was given an undesirable discharge for misconduct on 16 January 1972.  The DD Form 214 he was issued does not list the Purple Heart.  His undesirable discharge was subsequently upgraded to a general discharge by the Army Discharge Review Board.

7.  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.  It is evident that the applicant was properly awarded the Purple Heart for wounds he received in combat.

2.  However, without the orders awarding him the Purple Heart, that decoration cannot be administratively added to his DD Form 214.

3.  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 issuing to the individual concerned a DD Form 215 for his active service ending 16 January 1972 which adds the Purple Heart.

BOARD VOTE:  

_jma____  _tsm____  _aao____  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		_______James M. Alward_____
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR1999029682	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	20000322	
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.