THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, May 21, 1996 TAG: 9605210317
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
The Navy will bid a formal, painful farewell to Adm. Jeremy ``Mike'' Boorda here this morning, with President Clinton scheduled to eulogize the former chief of naval operations during a memorial service at Washington National Cathedral.
CNN will broadcast the 11:30 a.m. service live. The C-Span cable network plans to tape the service for airing later in the day.
In Norfolk, Vice Adm. Vernon E. Clark, commander of the 2nd Fleet, will be the guest speaker for another Boorda memorial service, also at 11:30. The local service, designed for active duty Navy and Marine Corps members but also open to military retirees and their families, will be held on Pier 12 of the Norfolk Naval Station, adjacent to the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt.
Boorda, 56, committed suicide Thursday shortly after being told that reporters for Newsweek magazine wanted to interview him about his former wearing of a military decoration to which he may not have been entitled.
Boorda left a note describing his wearing of the ``combat V,'' a decoration given for valor in combat, as an honest mistake, but saying he knew some in the Navy and the media would never accept that explanation. Since his death, experts on Navy medals and regulations have differed sharply over whether Boorda had a right to wear the ``V.''
Boorda was buried Sunday in a private service at Arlington National Cemetery.
The president, who had an emotional private visit Saturday with Boorda's family at their residence at the Washington Navy Yard, is expected to join senior military leaders in attempts to reassure the Navy and rebuild morale in the wake of Boorda's tragedy.
The admiral's death is the latest and most wrenching in a series of setbacks and scandals to beset the Navy in recent years. Boorda was struggling to lead the service into a new era but had admitted to frustration over continued problems involving sexual harassment and the integration of women into jobs previously open only to men.
Also scheduled to take part in this morning's service are Defense Secretary William J. Perry, Navy Secretary John H. Dalton, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. John Shalikashvili.
Several senior uniformed naval officers, most prominently Adm. Jay Johnson, the Navy's vice chief of operations, and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy John Hagan, the service's senior enlisted man, also will participate.
The Navy's continuing troubles, several Pentagon sources suggested Monday, probably will lead Clinton, Perry and Dalton to move quickly to choose a permanent successor to Boorda. An announcement could come before week's end, the sources said.
Prominent in the speculation are several of the Navy's current four-star admirals, including Johnson, the acting CNO since Boorda's death; Leighton W. Smith Jr., currently commander of allied forces in Bosnia, William J. Flanagan Jr., head of the Norfolk-based Atlantic Fleet; and Ronald J. Zlatoper, commander of the Pacific Fleet.
KEYWORDS: U.S. NAVY SUICIDE U.S. CHIEF OF NAVAL
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