PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:       

	BOARD DATE:             8 August 2000                  
	DOCKET NUMBER:    AR1999034729

	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	
	Mr. W. E. Schnupp		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. Stanley Kelley		Chairperson	
	Mr. James E. Anderholm		Member	
	Mr. Ronald E. Blakely		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 Block 24 (Decorations, Medals, Commendations, Badges) of his separation document (DD Form 214) be corrected to reflect award of the Purple Heart.

3.  The applicant states that he is entitled to the Purple Heart as a result of wounds received in Vietnam.

4.  The applicant’s military records show that he was inducted on 17 October 1967, and served in Vietnam as a light weapons infantryman from March 1968 to March 1969.  His Enlisted Qualification Record (DA Form 20) shows, in item 40, that on 26 September 1968, while in Vietnam, he suffered a fragment wound to the right arm.  Additionally, the record contains a Western Union Telegram from the Adjutant General of the Army to the applicant’s mother indicating that he was slightly wounded in the right arm as a result of hostile action on 26 September 1968.  He was honorably separated to the US Army Reserve on 12 August 1969 in the grade of specialist four.

5.  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.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  Although there is no medical evidence in the available records, other documents in his Official Military Personnel File clearly show that the applicant was wounded in the arm as a result of enemy action in Vietnam on                     26 September 1968, and is entitled to award of the Purple Heart for that injury.

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:

	a.  showing that the individual concerned was awarded the Purple Heart for wounds resulting from hostile action on 26 September 1968; and

	b.  issuing a correction to his DD Form 214 showing his entitlement to the Purple Heart.

BOARD VOTE:  

__sk____  __jea____  __reb___  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		_________Stanley Kelley________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR1999034729	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	20000808	
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.