MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION

Summary

The Veteran, an Army Veteran who served from February 1966 to February 1969, appeals the denial of service connection for coronary artery disease with myocardial infarction. The Veteran contends his condition is related to herbicide exposure during his service in Korea, specifically near the demilitarized zone (DMZ). The Board reviewed the Veteran's military personnel records, which confirmed his service in Korea during the presumptive period for herbicide exposure. While a researcher found no definitive herbicide exposure, the Veteran testified at a hearing, stating he was stationed near the DMZ and his duties involved maintaining vehicles driven in sprayed areas. The Board found the Veteran's lay testimony credible and corroborated by service records, concluding he served near the DMZ during the relevant period. Applying the benefit of the doubt and the presumption of herbicide exposure under 38 U.S.C. § 1116B, the Board granted service connection for coronary artery disease with myocardial infarction. The Board found the criteria for service connection were met based on this presumptive basis.

Rationale

Veteran served in Korea near DMZ during presumptive herbicide exposure period.; Lay testimony regarding duties and location corroborated by service records.; Benefit of the doubt applied to grant presumptive service connection.

Full Decision Text

Citation Nr: A26040660
Decision Date: 04/30/26	Archive Date: 04/30/26

DOCKET NO. 250915-586110
DATE: April 30, 2026

ORDER

Entitlement to service connection for coronary artery disease with myocardial infarction, associated with herbicide exposure, is granted.

FINDING OF FACT

1. The evidence is at least in approximate balance that the Veteran served on active duty near the Korean DMZ. 

2. The Veteran has a diagnosis of coronary artery disease during the period on appeal.

3. The Veteran's coronary artery disease was due to exposure to herbicide agents on a facts-found basis.

CONCLUSION OF LAW

The criteria for service connection for coronary artery disease have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1116, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303, 3.307.

REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION

The Veteran served on active duty in the U.S. Army from February 1966 to February 1969.

This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) from a May 2025 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). In a September 2025 VA Form 10182, Decision Review Request: Board Appeal (Notice of Disagreement) (NOD), the Appellant elected the Hearing option. The Appellant testified at a January 5, 2026, video hearing with the undersigned Veterans Law Judge (VLJ). A transcript of the hearing has been reviewed and associated with the claims file. Accordingly, the Board may only consider the evidence of record at the time of the May 2025 AOJ decision on appeal, as well as any evidence submitted by the Appellant or her representative at the hearing or within 90 days following the hearing. 38 C.F.R. § 20.302(a).

Legal Criteria

Service connection may be granted for a disability arising from a disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by active service. 38 U.S.C. § 1131; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(a). As a general matter, service connection for a disability requires evidence of: (1) the existence of a current disability; (2) the existence of the disease or injury in service, and (3) a causal relationship (nexus) between the current disability and any injury or disease during service.

Service connection may also be established on a presumptive basis for certain diseases associated with exposure to herbicide agents. See 38 U.S.C. § § 1116; 38 C.F.R. § §§ 3.307, 3.309. For purposes of establishing service connection on this basis, a veteran who, during active service, served in the Republic of Vietnam between January 9, 1962, and May 7, 1975, shall be presumed to have been exposed to an herbicide agent, unless there is affirmative evidence of non-exposure. See 38 U.S.C. § § 1116 (f); 38 C.F.R. § § 3.307 (a)(6).

A Veteran who, during military service, served in the Republic of Vietnam during the Vietnam era (January 1962 to May 1975) is presumed to have been exposed to herbicide agents, including Agent Orange. 38 U.S.C. § 1116 (f); 38 C.F.R. § 3.307 (a)(6)(iii). The presumptive provisions of 38 U.S.C. § 1116 have been extended to encompass veterans shown to have been otherwise exposed to tactical herbicide agents in service, including while serving in the DMZ in Korea. The Department of Defense (DoD) has determined that herbicide agents (including Agent Orange) were used along the Korean DMZ from April 1, 1968, to August 31, 1971. Veterans assigned to one of the units listed as being at or near the Korean DMZ during that period are also presumed to have been exposed to herbicide agents. 38 U.S.C. § 1116; 38 C.F.R. § 3.307 (a)(6)(iv).

Prior to January 1, 2020, the presumption of in-service herbicide exposure in Korea was limited to certain Veterans who served in Korea as part of a unit that, as determined by the Department of Defense, operated near the Korean DMZ (in an area where herbicide agents were known to have been applied) between April 1, 1968, and August 31, 1971.  38 U.S.C. § 1116B; 
 as being at or near the Korean DMZ during that period are also presumed to have been exposed to herbicide agents. 38 U.S.C. § 1116; 38 C.F.R. § 3.307 (a)(6)(iv).

Prior to January 1, 2020, the presumption of in-service herbicide exposure in Korea was limited to certain Veterans who served in Korea as part of a unit that, as determined by the Department of Defense, operated near the Korean DMZ (in an area where herbicide agents were known to have been applied) between April 1, 1968, and August 31, 1971.  38 U.S.C. § 1116B; 38 C.F.R. § 3.307 (a)(6)(iv).  

However, the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019, later codified at 38 U.S.C. §1116B, extended the presumption of herbicide agent exposure in Korea, to veterans who, during active military, naval, or air service, served in or near the Korean DMZ during the period beginning on September 1, 1967, and ending on August 31, 1971. See 38 U.S.C. §1116B (in effect from January 1, 2020, which removed the language requiring that a veteran must be part of a unit determined by the DoD operated near the Korean DMZ).

If there is no official documentation of service at a location that results in a presumption of exposure to herbicide agents, such exposure may be established on a "facts found" basis. 38 U.S.C. § 1113 (b); Combee v. Brown, 34 F.3d 1039 (Fed. Cir. 1994).

If a veteran was exposed to herbicide agents during active service and developed an enumerated disease associated with exposure to herbicide agents (including ischemic heart disease) the disease shall be service connected even if there is no record of this disease during service. See 38 C.F.R. § § 3.307 (a)(6), 3.309(e). This presumption is rebuttable by affirmative evidence to the contrary. See 38 C.F.R. § § 3.307 (d).

The determination as to whether the requirements for service connection are met is based on an analysis of all the evidence of record and the evaluation of its credibility and probative value.  38 U.S.C. § 7104 (a); Baldwin v. West, 13 Vet. App. 1 (1999).  When there is an approximate balance of positive and negative evidence regarding any issue material to the determination of a matter, VA shall give the benefit of the doubt to the claimant.  38 U.S.C. § 5107 (b); 38 C.F.R.        § 3.102; Lynch v. McDonough, 21 F.4th 776 (Fed. Cir. 2021) (en banc).

1. Entitlement to service connection for coronary artery disease with myocardial infarction, associated with herbicide exposure, is granted.

Factual Background

The Veteran contends that his coronary artery disease with myocardial infarction is related to his active-duty service in Korea on or near the demilitarized zone (DMZ). See January 2026 Board hearing transcript.

The Veteran's military personnel records show that he was stationed in Korea from October 14, 1966 to December 14, 1967; this time period coincides with the time period that qualifies for the presumption of exposure to in-service herbicide agents in Korea, pursuant to 38 U.S.C. §1116B.

A November 2024 response from the Records Research Center indicated that a professional researcher from the Veterans Benefits Administration found no definitive exposure of the Veteran to herbicides in 1966 or 1967.

The Veteran testified before the undersigned on January 5, 2026. He reported that he was stationed at Camp Humphreys, Korea, which is approximately 60 miles from the Korean DMZ. He said he did not make any trips to the DMZ himself, but that he spent a lot of time in the ASCOM Depot, approximately 20 to 30 miles from the DMZ, in addition to occasional trips to a recreational area on weekends, which the Veteran estimated was within 10 miles of the DMZ. The Veteran reported that his MOS responsibilities included maintenance of trucks and other vehicles, which the Veteran says were frequently driven in the DMZ. The Veteran asserts he may have been exposed to herbicides from maintenance of vehicles that were driven in the herbicide-sprayed areas of the DMZ.

The May 2025 rating decision on appeal here concedes that the Veteran has been diagnosed
60 miles from the Korean DMZ. He said he did not make any trips to the DMZ himself, but that he spent a lot of time in the ASCOM Depot, approximately 20 to 30 miles from the DMZ, in addition to occasional trips to a recreational area on weekends, which the Veteran estimated was within 10 miles of the DMZ. The Veteran reported that his MOS responsibilities included maintenance of trucks and other vehicles, which the Veteran says were frequently driven in the DMZ. The Veteran asserts he may have been exposed to herbicides from maintenance of vehicles that were driven in the herbicide-sprayed areas of the DMZ.

The May 2025 rating decision on appeal here concedes that the Veteran has been diagnosed with coronary artery disease.

Analysis

As indicated above, the Veteran has a diagnosis of coronary artery disease, with myocardial infarction. The record indicates that the Veteran served during the Vietnam War era, during the time of presumptive spraying of the Korean DMZ with herbicides.

In making all determinations, the Board must fully consider the lay assertions of record.  See Layno v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 465, 470 (1994).  Lay testimony is competent to establish the presence of observable symptomatology and may provide sufficient support for a claim of service connection.  See Barr v. Nicholson, 21 Vet. App. 303 (2007).  In order for lay evidence to be competent, the individual must have personal knowledge, derived from his/her own senses, of what is being attested; "competent testimony is thus limited to that which the witness has actually observed, and is within the realm of his personal knowledge."  See Layno, supra.

In this case, the Veteran has attested to facts about where he was stationed during his military service and the nature of his duties while in Korea.  This is information the Veteran had personal knowledge of and was derived from his own observations.  The information from the Veteran's service personnel records tend to correspond to the Veteran's statements regarding his service in Korea and support the Veteran's reports of operations in and near the perimeter of the Korean DMZ.  Furthermore, the Board finds the Veteran's reports of the nature of his duties in Korea to be consistent with the circumstances of his service as indicated from the Veteran's service personnel records.  38 U.S.C. § 1154 (b).

The Board, therefore, finds the lay statements of the Veteran attesting to his duties near the Korean DMZ are supported by additional evidence of record and are found to be competent and credible.  Based upon this competent and credible evidence and affording him the benefit of the doubt, the Board finds the Veteran served in Korea near the DMZ during the period beginning on September 1, 1967, and ending on August 31, 1971.  As such, it is presumed that during such service the Veteran was exposed to herbicide agents during his active service.  38 U.S.C.   § 1116, 1116B.

Accordingly, giving the Veteran the benefit of the doubt, service connection for coronary artery disease with myocardial infarction is granted on a presumptive basis. See 38 C.F.R. § 3.309 (e).

 

Thomas L. English

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans' Appeals

Attorney for the Board	Seibert, Andrew L. II

The Board's decision in this case is binding only with respect to the instant matter decided. This decision is not precedential and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.