33 Facts About Michael Boorda

Jeremy Michael Boorda was a United States Navy admiral who served as the 25th Chief of Naval Operations.

Michael Boorda died by suicide by shooting himself in the chest after leaving suicide notes reported to contain expressions of concern that he had tarnished the reputation of the Navy, following a media investigation into the legitimacy of his having worn on his uniform two service medals with bronze "V" devices, which indicate the awards were for acts of valor.

The "V" devices are by regulation only to be awarded to personnel who performed an act of valor in actual combat, and Michael Boorda had not served in combat.

Michael Boorda had removed the two medal devices on his uniform almost a year before he died and was generally perceived as having made a good-faith error in believing he was authorized to wear the devices.

Michael Boorda was born in South Bend, Indiana, to Jewish parents, Gertrude Wallis and Herman Michael Boorda.

Michael Boorda's family moved to Momence, Illinois, where his father had a dress shop.

Michael Boorda dropped out of high school to enlist in the United States Navy in 1956 at the age of 17; it provided a structure he at first disliked but came to appreciate.

Michael Boorda finished high school while in the Navy and attained the rate of Personnelman First Class.

Michael Boorda was selected for potential commissioning under the Integration Program in 1962, by which enlisted sailors were admitted to the Navy's Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island.

Michael Boorda was commissioned as an ensign upon graduating in August 1962.

In October 1972, the Seventh Fleet, including Michael Boorda's ship departed for Vietnam; his second tour began in November 1972 and ended on February 19,1973.

Michael Boorda was next assigned as executive assistant to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Washington, DC.

Michael Boorda relieved the civilian presidential appointee in that position, remaining until 1981, when he took command of Destroyer Squadron 22.

On February 1,1993, while serving as Commander in Chief, Allied Forces Southern Europe, Michael Boorda assumed the additional duty as Commander, Joint Task Force Provide Promise, responsible for the supply of humanitarian relief to Bosnia-Herzegovina via air-land and air-drop missions, and for troops contributing to the UN mission throughout the Balkans.

Michael Boorda personally greeted 73 members of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, and over 600 other military and civilian honorees who were invited.

Michael Boorda was a product of an enlisted-to-officer commissioning program in the early 1960s.

Michael Boorda was particularly interested in C4I initiatives to place command and control, communications, computers, and intelligence assets on naval ships.

Michael Boorda initiated efforts during the proposal phase for the future LPD-17 amphibious class to be fitted with first-class C4I suites, radars, communications, and defense systems-anti-torpedo, anti-missile, and anti-NBC, along with blast-hardened bulkheads that will absorb and dissipate much more punishment than is possible with present designs.

Michael Boorda spearheaded efforts to change the US Navy's officer fitness report, enlisted evaluation, and enlisted advancement systems.

Michael Boorda's vision brought the navy's new focus on littoral operations into alignment with naval projection policies.

Michael Boorda died on May 16,1996, in the garden outside his home at the Washington Navy Yard.

Michael Boorda reportedly left two typed and unsigned suicide notes in his home, neither of which was released publicly, but were said to have been addressed to his wife and to his public information officer.

Michael Boorda was reported to have been distraught over a media investigation led by decorated US Army Vietnam War veteran David Hackworth of Newsweek into two miniature bronze letter "V"s that Michael Boorda had worn for years on two of his uniform's service ribbons.

However, Michael Boorda stopped wearing the "V" devices on these service ribbons about a year before the Hackworth investigation, after being informed by the Navy that he was not authorized to wear them.

Reports at the time of Michael Boorda's suicide indicated that his wearing of the two "V" devices on the two service ribbons had not been an intentional deception on his part, but had been an unintentional mistake that resulted from his following verbal instructions delivered to commanders during the Vietnam War by Admiral Elmo Zumwalt when he was Chief of Naval Operations, as well as conflicting interpretations and updating of Navy award regulations.

Michael Boorda was said to have been worried that the issue would cause more trouble for the US Navy's reputation.

Michael Boorda was survived by his wife, Bettie Moran Michael Boorda, four children and eleven grandchildren.

Michael Boorda was interred at Arlington National Cemetery on May 19,1996, with a tombstone marked with the Star of David.

Michael Boorda has two sons and one daughter-in-law who are naval officers.

Michael Boorda has four grandsons who served in the US military: Peter Boorda was a petty officer in the United States Coast Guard, Andrew Boorda is an armor officer in the US Army, Phillip Boorda is an amphibious assault vehicle officer in the US Marine Corps, and Robert Dowling is an intelligence officer in the US Army.

Michael Boorda met with Joe Biden in 1993, while serving as commander-in-chief of Allied Forces Southern Command, to advise the then-Senator on the military situation in the Balkans.

Michael Boorda argued that US air power 'could shut down the Serb aggression and could end the sieges in Sarajevo and Srebrenica' without the need for a costly and unpopular commitment of ground forces.

The Navy's annual Admiral Michael Boorda award was established and first awarded in 2003.