THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 5, 1996 TAG: 9601050446
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ANNAPOLIS, MD. LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
The Navy buried Adm. Arleigh A. Burke, the last of its World War II heroes, Thursday in a ceremony reflecting the dignity of his rank and the simplicity he had demanded for his last farewell.
A crowd of more than 1,500, led by President Clinton and including several generations of Burke's former comrades, heard retired Vice Adm. Joseph Metcalf III, a former aide to Burke, eulogize his old boss as ``a dynamo of a man'' who made only two demands of subordinates:
``Work as hard as he did, and love the Navy.''
In his own tribute, Clinton recalled Burke's wartime heroism - during November 1943 his ``Little Beavers,'' Destroyer Squadron 23, sank one Japanese cruiser, nine destroyers, one submarine and several smaller ships - and his postwar role in reshaping the Navy as its chief of operations.
Burke is revered in the Navy for his three terms (1955-61) as its top admiral. He is credited with pushing the development of nuclear-powered, missile-bearing surface ships - a class of destroyers is named for him - and the nation's
fleet of ballistic-missile submarines.
``The Navy all Americans are so proud of, the Navy that stood up to fascism and stared down communism and advances our values and freedom even today - that Navy is Arleigh Burke's Navy,'' Clinton said.
Burke, who was 94, died New Year's Day of complications from a bout with pneumonia.
The president sat alongside Burke's widow, Bobbie, for the hourlong service in the chapel of the U.S. Naval Academy, then took her arm for the long walk down the church's center aisle and to a limousine that would carry her to the gravesite in the academy cemetery.
The Burkes were married in the same church on his graduation day from the academy more than 72 years ago. Mrs. Burke marked her 97th birthday on Wednesday.
``While we have cause for sorrow, we do not despair,'' Rear Adm. D.K. Muchow, the Navy's chief of chaplains, said in a line that seemed to set the tone for the service.
Metcalf, who delivered the principal tribute, said he was a young lieutenant when he met Burke, then commander of the Navy's cruiser division five, in the mid-1950s.
``I was not particularly interested in serving on his staff,'' Metcalf admitted, and hoped instead for a chance at command. But Burke ``persuaded me very quickly that I wanted to be on his staff,'' he added as knowing chuckles rippled through the crowd.
Though Burke is known for pushing technological advances in the Navy, his greatest interest was in its sailors, Metcalf said. Perhaps his proudest moment was when sailors under him on the destroyer Mugford recorded a perfect score - 36 shots fired and 36 hits - in a 1939 gunnery exercise.
``Today we have great digital systems, guns go where you point them,'' Metcalf observed. But Burke ``understood that you have to lead people, lead machines,'' and that ``the pressure of a button does not necessarily put ordnance on the target.''
At Mrs. Burke's request, the funeral ended with a long round of applause to celebrate her husband's life. Then a flag-draped caisson, one horse in its team of six riderless in keeping with military tradition, bore the casket in a slow, quiet procession across the academy's grounds.
Hundreds of mourners, led by Navy Secretary John H. Dalton and the crew of the Norfolk-based destroyer Arleigh Burke, followed on foot, then stood at attention as cannons sounded a muffled 19-gun salute.
Among the mourners were Republican Sens. Richard G. Lugar of Indiana and John H. Chafee of Rhode Island, a former Navy secretary. Also in the crowd were retired Supreme Court Justice Byron White, and businessman and 1992 presidential candidate H. Ross Perot, a Naval Academy graduate.
Burke was buried atop a small hill overlooking the Severn River. At his direction, the gravestone bears only his name, four stars to signify his rank and a one-word inscription: ``Sailor.''
``The title encapsulates the integrity and the essence of Arleigh Burke,'' Muchow said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
President Clinton assists Bobbie Burke behind her husband's coffin
after the funeral service in the Naval Academy's chapel.
by CNB