The Board has determined that the veteran sustained shrapnel wounds to his legs, chest, and lip during service in Vietnam. As these injuries occurred during combat operations, they are presumed incurred in service. The Board also found no evidence of current residuals from these wounds.
The deciding factor: The veteran's combat-related injuries were found to be consistent with the circumstances, conditions, or hardships of his service under 38 U.S.C.A. § 1154(b).
- Claimed conditions
- shrapnel wounds to the legs, shrapnel wounds to the chest, shrapnel wounds to the lip
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 8, 2003
- Citation
- 0300389
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,613 · Granted: 30% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 0300389.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board found that there is no current disability caused by shrapnel wounds, and the Veteran's claim of service connection for shrapnel wounds to the legs was denied.
- Remanded (sent back)
The veteran's claims for an initial compensable disability rating for service-connected burns to the legs, and entitlement to service connection for shrapnel wounds to the legs, and for a left knee injury are being remanded due to additional development needed.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an initial evaluation in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected coronary artery disease, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on the severity of his condition.
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