Citation Nr: 18146439
Decision Date: 10/31/18	Archive Date: 10/31/18

DOCKET NO. 15-45 141
DATE:	October 31, 2018
REMANDED
Entitlement to an effective date earlier than June 30, 2008 for the award of service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, to include whether a December 1975 Board decision that denied service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death contained clear and unmistakable error (CUE), is remanded.
REASONS FOR REMAND
The Veteran served on active duty from April 1971 to March 1974.  The Veteran died in April 1974.  The appellant is the Veteran’s widow.
This matter is before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a January 2013 letter denying an earlier effective date by a Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office (RO).
In March 2018, the Veteran testified at a Travel Board hearing before the undersigned.  A copy of the transcript of that hearing has been associated with the claims file.


1. Earlier Effective Date
During the March 2018 Board hearing, the appellant asserted that she had submitted several requests to reopen her claim prior to June 2008.  In addition, during the hearing the appellant submitted several dated statements she asserted were requests to reopen her claim including statements dated in February 1997, January 1998, and September and December 2003.  
In this regard, the Board notes that the record contains a statement date signed January 1998, and date stamped July 2014, in which the appellant requested that the claim for the cause of the Veteran’s death be re-opened.  However, a review of the claims file shows that the records submitted during the March 2018 Board hearing have not been uploaded to the claims file.  As those submitted statements are pertinent to the claim on appeal a Remand is necessary to obtain and upload those documents.
VA must consider all evidence of record in its decisions, 38 U.S.C. § 5107(b), 7104(a), therefore the evidence submitted at the hearing must be uploaded to claims file.
The matter is REMANDED for the following action:
1. Verify whether the documents submitted by the appellant at the March 2018 Board hearing are in VA custody.  If these documents are in VA’s possession, they must be associated with the claims file. 
The letters are dated:  February 28, 1997; January 16, 1998; February 16, 2001; September 2, 2003; and December 4, 2003.
If the documents submitted at the March 2018 Board hearing cannot be located, contact the appellant and request that she resubmit them.  Copies of this evidence must be associated with the claims file.  All efforts to obtain the records must be documented in the claims file.
 
S. HENEKS
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	C. Lamb, Associate Counsel