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UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR VETERANS CLAIMS
No. 19-4176
LEO W. PERRY, APPELLANT,
V.
ROBERT L. WILKIE,
SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS, APPELLEE.
Before MEREDITH, Judge.
MEMORANDUM DECISION
Note: Pursuant to U.S. Vet. App. R. 30(a),
this action may not be cited as precedent.
MEREDITH, Judge: The appellant, Leo W. Perry, through counsel appeals an April 8,
2019, Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) decision that denied entitlement to benefits for
Parkinson’s disease, including as due to herbicide exposure. Record (R.) at 4-13. This appeal is
timely, and the Court has jurisdiction to review the Board’s decision pursuant to 38 U.S.C.
§§ 7252(a) and 7266(a). Single-judge disposition is appropriate. See Frankel v. Derwinski,
1 Vet.App. 23, 25-26 (1990). For the following reasons, the Court will vacate the Board’s decision
and remand the matter for further proceedings consistent with this decision.
I. BACKGROUND
The appellant served on active duty as an aviator in the U.S. Navy from July 1968 to May
R. at 640, 1032. He trained at Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola beginning in September
R. at 769. From February 14 to May 16, 1969, he participated in Basic Air and Ground
Training, and the record reflects that his duty station during that time was NAS Pensacola. R. at
638-39.
In 2009, the appellant began to show signs and symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, and the
diagnosis was confirmed in 2010. R. at 806-09, 811-14. He filed a claim for benefits for that
2
condition in August 2011, asserting that it was related to exposure to Agent Orange in service.
R. at 1037; see R. at 1025-31. In support of his claim, he
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Single Judge Application; Parkinson's disease due to herbicide exposure; DoD information shows that testing for Agent Orange aircraft spraying techniques was conducted from 1962 to 1971 at Eglin [AFB]; test site C-52A; "[i]f a veteran was exposed to an herbicide agent during active military, naval, or air service," the later development of certain conditions-including Parkinson's disease-will be presumed caused by such exposure. 38 C.F.R. § 3.309(e) (2020); 38 C.F.R. § 3.307(a)(6)(iii), (iv), (v) (2020) (providing a presumption of exposure to herbicides for certain veterans who served in Vietnam and the Korean demilitarized zone, or who operated, maintained, or served onboard C-123 aircraft known to have been used to spray herbicides during the Vietnam era);
Designated for electronic publication onlyUNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR VETERANS CLAIMSNo. 19-4176LEO W. PERRY, APPELLANT,V.ROBERT L. WILKIE,SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS, APPELLEE.Before MEREDITH, Judge.MEMORANDUM DECISIONNote: Pursuant to U.S. Vet. App. R. 30(a),this action may not be cited as precedent.MEREDITH, Judge: The appellant, Leo W. Perry, through counsel appeals an April 8,2019, Board of Veterans' Appeals...