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...operations.) Boorda served two tours of duty in Vietnam and worked his way up the ranks, commanding surface ships and serving in various Pentagon posts before being named chief of NATO's forces in Southern Europe in 1991. He was nominated by President Clinton to the top naval post in March 1994, when his predecessor, Admiral Frank Kelso II, had to retire early in response to criticism of his handling of the 1991 Tailhook sex-harassment episode. As the first enlisted man ever to rise to the Navy's top spot, Boorda was known, and widely liked, as a "sailor...
...profound issue of honor. In a suicide note written to "the sailors" (he wrote another one to his wife and family), Boorda expressed fears that the controversy over his battle decorations would damage the institution to which he had devoted his life. (The suicide notes were misdated May 15; naval officials speculated that Boorda avoided dating them May 16 because that is his only daughter's birthday.) Those who knew Boorda could understand his chagrin. "Since a military officer can ask you to lay your life on the line, you have to trust that person 100%," said Lawrence Korb...
Still: Should reporters pursue a story such as the one about the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations wearing combat decorations he did not earn...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: In the wake of the suicide of the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations, Pentagon officials and lawmakers are asking whether Admiral Michael Boorda deliberately wore Vietnam combat decorations he knew he was not entitled to wear. Arizona Senator and former Vietnam POW John McCain came to the admiral's defense and said Boorda could have made an honest mistake. But others in the military suggested that such an error was inconceivable, particularly for a man who had run a naval personnel office for years. Boorda shot himself in the chest Thursday soon after learning that a Newsweek reporter...
...suicide notes, Boorda said he was taking his life because he feared the investigation into his decorations could tarnish not only his reputation but that of the Navy as well. Boorda was the Navy's top uniformed officer and succeeded Admiral Frank Kelso as chief of Naval operations after the Tailhook scandal. Inheriting an institution battered by sex harassment and drug use charges, Boorda made it his mission to emphasize the need for honor among Naval forces. Boorda was highly respected in both military and civilian circles. Friday, Defense Secretary William J. Perry praised Boorda in a speech at Maryland...