PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF

	BOARD DATE:            6 April 2000      
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR1999034730

	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.  

	Ms. Deborah L. Brantley		Senior Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. John N. Slone		Chairperson	
	Mr. Ernest M. Willcher		Member	
	Mr. James E. Anderholm		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, in effect, award of the Purple Heart.  He states he sustained a shrapnel wound to his wrist during a night ambush in Vietnam.  He also notes that he was wounded two other times but submits no evidence to support his request. 

Records available to the Board indicate the applicant entered active duty on 
10 December 1968 and successfully completed basic and advanced individual training prior to being assigned to Vietnam as an infantryman in June 1969.  According to medical records contained in his file he sustained a fragment wound to his right hand "from short M79 round" on 25 September 1969 at 0400 hours.  The wound was treated and recorded as having occurred in the line of duty but not as a "battle casualty."

The applicant returned to the United States in April 1970 and completed his enlistment contract at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.  He was honorably discharged on 
9 September 1970 to attend school.  There is no evidence he was ever awarded the Purple Heart.

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.

Included as part of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for fiscal year 1994 was an amendment to the rules governing award of the Purple Heart.  While the original rules established that the Purple Heart would be awarded to individual's killed or wounded as a result of hostile action the amendment enabled the Secretaries of each department to award the Purple Heart to members of the armed forces who were killed or wounded in action by weapon fire, while directly engaged in armed conflict, other than as the result of an act of an enemy of the United States.  This ruling, in effect, granted the service Secretaries the authority to award the Purple Heart to individual directly engaged in armed conflict who were killed or wounded as a result of "friendly fire."

ENTER M-79 INFORMATION.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The evidence supports a conclusion that the applicant was likely wounded by friendly fire on 25 September 1969.  This conclusion is based on the fact that the injury occurred at 0400 hours and it was not recorded as accidentally incurred.  At the time awards of the Purple Heart were not authorized for wounds sustained as a result of friendly fire.

2.  There is, however, no evidence that the applicant was wounded at any other times during his tour of duty in Vietnam and as such no basis for any additional awards of the Purple Heart.

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

RECOMMENDATION:

1.  That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected by awarding the individual concerned the Purple Heart for wounds sustained on 25 September 1969 while in Vietnam.

2.  That so much of the application as is in excess of the foregoing be denied.

BOARD VOTE:  

___jns__  ___emw__  ___jea__  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		______________________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR1999034730	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	20000406	
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.