Posted on 02/20/2003 10:55:17 AM PST by honway
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Navy has quietly accepted that Adm. Jeremy "Mike" Boorda was entitled to wear combat decorations on his uniform -- the challenged Vietnam War awards that led to his suicide two years ago.
Navy Secretary John Dalton put into Boorda's file a letter from Elmo Zumwalt Jr., the chief of naval operations during the war, which says it was "appropriate, justified and proper" for Boorda to attach the small bronze combat V's to the ribbons on his uniform. The Navy also modified Boorda's record to list the V's among his other decorations -- recognition that they were earned.
But that stops short of what Zumwalt sought -- unambiguous public recognition that Boorda violated no regulations.
Nonetheless, Zumwalt, in an interview Wednesday, called Dalton's action "posthumous validation of Admiral Boorda's right to have worn the V's based on instructions given by me when I was chief of naval operations."
"My interpretation is that retroactively he has been authorized to wear the V's," Zumwalt added.
Wearing an unauthorized decoration is a severe breach of military protocol.
Decision becomes part of naval records
On May 16, 1996, when his right to wear the decorations was about to be questioned, Boorda, 56, the first enlisted man to become the chief of naval operations in the service's 198-year history, went home, wrote a note "to my sailors," stepped into his garden and fatally shot himself in the chest.
He acted after learning that two Newsweek reporters were on their way to question him about the matter.
The decision by Dalton, who will retire at the end of the year, to place Zumwalt's memo in Boorda's file made it part of naval records.
The "V" stands for valor and signifies service in combat. Boorda served on a destroyer, the USS Craig, in 1965 and as executive officer on another destroyer, the USS Brooke, in 1973, both in combat situations.
In his suicide note, Boorda said, "I am about to be accused of wearing combat devices on two ribbons I earned during sea tours in Vietnam. It turns out I didn't really rate them. When I found out I was wrong I immediately took them off, but it was really too late."
He added: "I couldn't bear to bring dishonor to you."
The matter is complex. The regulations were ambiguous and evolving and Zumwalt said in his memo that his directions authorizing the wearing of the decorations were delivered verbally "in over 100 visits to ships and shore stations" rather than in writing.
Zumwalt's memo and Dalton's were not made public. The Washingtonian magazine reports on them in its forthcoming July issue. The magazine made copies of the memos available to The Associated Press.
Advised by the Navy's Office of Awards and Special Projects in 1995 that he was not entitled to the decorations, Boorda removed the V's from his uniform.
Navy rules revision makes Boorda eligible
In 1965, Boorda did not qualify for the Combat V, the Washingtonian said. But in 1967 the Navy retroactively upgraded all Navy Commendation for Achievement ribbons awarded between 1961 and 1967, making Boorda eligible for the award.
"Admiral Mike Boorda's citations for awards of the Navy Achievement Medal and Navy Commendation Medal plainly state they were awarded for service including `combat operations' and `while operating in combat missions,"' Dalton's memo said.
Zumwalt's said that during the war, his "statements as the official military spokesman for the Navy made it appropriate, justified and proper for Mike to wear the V."
Despite the intense attention paid to Boorda's suicide, the Navy made no acknowledgment of Dalton's action until questioned Wednesday. Dalton's "memorandum for the record" was dated April 3, 1998, almost two years after Boorda's suicide.
Boorda's widow, Bettie, could not be reached for comment. She has an unlisted telephone number. Her son, Edward, captain of the USS Russell, reported on duty in the Arabian Gulf, could not be reached. Dalton did not respond to requests, made over three days, for an interview.
In a 20,000 word investigation of the Boorda suicide in 1996, Nick Kotz wrote in the Washingtonian that the decorations dispute may have been only one factor pushing Boorda toward suicide. He cited hostility from the Navy's "old guard," who considered him a "political admiral" and felt he had appeased politicians in his handling of the Navy's Tailhook sexual harassment scandal.
Hackworth was all wound up, because there'd been a glut of phoney's claiming medalions and rank but have never seen action. He incorrectly lumped the Admiral into this crowd.
Hack has admitted his own failure, given the Admiral's otherwise excellent standing, to make sure he had all the details, first.
Hack is not crazy.
He's frustrated by the continual lack of care for the man in the trenches; "you would think that the brass would have learned by now," kind of reaction to the cockled marionettes.
Admiral Boorda was not able to dismiss the lack of regard by the Clntonistas for our men and women in uniform and all our veterans, not to mention our national memorials. He'd "just about had it!" that having to live the Clinton's lies, keep things going in spite of the leftists' wreckles social engineering.
The irony being that the Admiral and the Lt. Col. were actually in agreement on the Clinton Administration's lack of concern for our military.
Well, the Admiral spoke volumes for the pain of living in what he knew was a hopeless situation that could not be endured by the country.
Is what happened. IMHO.
Jeremy Michael Boorda
Admiral, United States Navy Chief of Naval OperationsLink
The nation's top Navy officer, distraught after some of his military awards were called into question, died Thursday, May 16, 1996, from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Adm. Jeremy Boorda was to have met about the time of the shooting with the Washington bureau chief of Newsweek magazine, which was working on a story concerning his medals.
Boorda was to have joined Clinton and other members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the White House on Thursday for announcement of an initiative seeking a permanent worldwide ban on land mines.
Wow. Thanks for the link and the info.
Seems like the CNO might have spent his time better preparing for the meeting with the Commander in Chief instead of dealing with reporters from Newsweek.
Whoa, Nellie! More info, please!
Not a chance. Neither will he apologize for protesting and working against Ronald Reagan's defense policies while he was on foreign soil.The UN gave him a medal for his work protesting the U.S. Reagan's defense policies won the cold war. With a track record like that, why does FOX News provide this man a forum?
See this quote from CNN:
One Democrat seemed as scathing as Republicans. "I am pleased that you finally saw this was the minimum you should do in accepting a modicum of responsibility," California Democrat Tom Lantos told Livingstone. "With an infinitely more distinguished public record than yours, Admiral Boorda committed suicide when he may have committed a minor mistake. So the fact is, it is a good thing you did it. You should have done this a long time ago."
This--understandably--infuriated the Army, which set investigators on Hackworth. They didn't have to dig hard. In an August 1971 report, an Army deputy inspector general alleged that:
Hackworth sanctioned the operation of a brothel--the "Steam and Cream"--in the Team 50 compound.
Hackworth gambled with enlisted men.
Hackworth smoked marijuana with subordinates.
Hackworth lived in the compound with a woman who was not his wife.
Hackworth broke currency regulations by exchanging U.S. dollars for military payment certificates on the black market.
All these activities violated military regulations, not to mention traditional standards of ethical conduct. The report concluded: "Col. Hackworth lacked the character, integrity and moral attributes required of an officer and a gentleman, acted without honor in dealings with his subordinates and superiors alike, and was derelict in the performance of his duties as Senior Advisor of Advisory Team 50."
Gen. Creighton Abrams, the Army commander in Vietnam, and Lt. Gen. William J. McCaffrey, his deputy (and father of Clinton drug czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey), wanted to court-martial Hackworth. But Hackworth retained Washington superlawyer Joseph Califano to represent him, and, in September 1971, the secretary of the Army stopped the investigation and allowed Hackworth to retire. "Gen. Abrams and I were astonished and chagrined when [the secretary] let him go," says McCaffrey today. And
"And judge Hackworth did. Before Boorda's body was cold, Hackworth was thundering about military honor and the soldier's code. In Newsweek, he declared that "[t]here is no greater disgrace" than wearing unearned valor medals. In his newspaper column, he announced that Boorda's deception threatened the bedrock integrity of the armed forces:"
Hackworth:
Midshipmen at Annapolis, cadets at West Point, the Air Force Academy, all the ROTCs and other officer-producing schools of this land are taught the code, "I will not lie, cheat or steal nor tolerate anyone who does."
These sacred rules don't apply only to cadets, NCOs or junior grade officers, but to every leader who wears the uniform, from cadet to general, midshipm[a]n to admiral.
In recent years, there's been an epidemic of violations of these rules, many by senior officers. These offenses range from lying under oath to stealing to misusing government property.
CNN has learned from Pentagon sources that Boorda wrote two letters before he died, one to his family and one addressed to sailors.
Sources said that in the typewritten note to the sailors, Boorda explained that he took his life because of the questions raised about his wearing of "V" for valor medals on his combat ribbon from Vietnam.
Navy officials had not yet decided whether to release the letters.
A U.S. Navy official who met with Boorda in the hours preceding his death said Boorda was "obviously concerned" about a scheduled meeting Thursday with two Newsweek reporters pursuing the story.
The 57-year-old chief of naval operations was rushed to D.C. General Hospital after he was found outside his quarters at the Washington Navy Yard, the Navy said. An emergency room physician said Boorda arrived with a gunshot wound to the chest. Five minutes later, at 2:30 p.m. EDT, he was pronounced dead.
According to Newsweek editor Maynard Parker, the news magazine was working on a story that called into question two medals Boorda received during the Vietnam war.
According to Navy sources, the magazine claimed to have uncovered evidence that Boorda had for more than 20 years inappropriately displayed "V" for valor on the medals.
According to a source who has seen Boorda's note to the sailors, Boorda wrote that he wore the Vs because he thought he rated them.
Boorda told the sailors how much he thought of them, and said that some people will not think he did the right thing, the source said. He ended the letter with a reference to "critics in the media" who have been "hard on the Navy," saying "I have given you more to write about," the source said.
The "V" for valor on such awards is reserved for acts "involving direct participation in combat operations," according to military code. The Navy released documents late Thursday which indicate that Boorda was not authorized to wear a combat "V" decoration.
Rear Adm. Kendell Pease, who was with Boorda a little over an hour before the shooting, said that when he told Boorda, at about 12:30 p.m., what the subject of the interview was, the admiral abruptly announced he was going home for lunch instead of eating the meal that had been brought to his office.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From a Knight-Ridder Newspapers story:
Pease, the Navy's chief spokesman, said that at 12:30 p.m., when he told Adm. Boorda about the 2:30 p.m. interview, the admiral asked him how they should handle the questions, then without waiting for a reply, answered his own question: "We'll just tell him the truth."
Pease said the admiral abruptly announced he was going home for lunch.
Adm. Boorda stormed to his car, brushed past his driver and drove himself home, a law-enforcement source said. The concerned driver apparently followed him home in a second car and arrived to find him mortally wounded, the source said.
Something is not adding up here. Boorda was to meet with the President and the other Chiefs Thursday afternoon. Why would a 2:30 p.m. appointment be scheduled when Boorda would be in with the President of the United States at the White House or enroute to the meeting.
Boorda's body was found about 2:05 p.m. in a side yard next to his quarters at the Washington Navy Yard. He was pronounced dead at D.C. General Hospital a few minutes later
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