BOARD DATE:	  22 February 2011

		DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20100021565 


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 he received shrapnel wounds to his scalp while serving in Vietnam in 1968.

3.  The applicant provides a copy of his DD Form 214 (Report of Transfer or Discharge) and one page of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) decisional document with a one-page statement about service incidents.

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's service medical and dental records are believed to be on permanent loan to the VA and are not available for review.
3.  The applicant served on active duty from 18 May 1966 through 3 May 1968 with service in Vietnam from 2 June 1967 through 2 May 1968.

4.  The available records contain no indication that the applicant was wounded as the result of hostile action or awarded the Purple Heart.

5.  His DD Form 214 and DA Form 20 (Enlisted Qualification Record) do not show award of the Purple Heart and item 40 (Wounds) on the DA Form 20 is blank.

6.  The VA decisional document contains no verifiable evidence that the applicant was wounded was the result of hostile action.

7.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) 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:

The applicant has not provided and the record does not contain any evidence that there is an official record of medical treatment for a wound sustained while in action against the enemy or as a result of hostile action.  Therefore, no relief is warranted. 

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)                                         AR20100021565





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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20100021565



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