Navy Rules Against Admiral

The official record of Adm. Jeremy "Mike" Boorda, who committed suicide amid questions about his combat decorations, will continue to show he did not earn them, the Navy has decided.

A board of three civilians recommended last month that the records remain unaltered, Navy spokesman Capt. Mark Van Dyke said Friday. Carolyn Becraft, who has the final say as assistant secretary of the Navy for manpower and reserve affairs, upheld the ruling.

Boorda, who joined the Navy at 16 and became the only enlisted man to rise to chief of naval operations, took his life in 1996 after 40 years of service. He was about to be asked by Newsweek reporters about why he wore Combat Vs - tiny bronze letters standing for "valor."

The decorations were attached to a Navy Achievement Medal awarded in 1968 and a Navy Commendation Medal awarded in 1973.

In a suicide note "to my sailors," Boorda said he felt disgraced.

Last year, then-Navy Secretary John Dalton placed a memo in Boorda's file backed by another memo from Adm. Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr., the Vietnam War-era chief of naval operations that declared him eligible to have worn the decorations.

The "V" devices were the source of controversy.

The Boorda family petitioned the Board for Corrections of the Naval Records last September to change the record and show he was entitled to wear the decorations.

"The final decision was there was no error or injustice in Adm. Boorda's record and the panel was unanimous in their recommendation," Van Dyke said.

He provided the information to The Associated Press after an inquiry prompted by the state of Illinois' decision to award a $20,000 grant for a memorial in Boorda's hometown, Momence, about 50 miles south of Chicago.

Boorda removed the decorations from his ribbons in 1995, on the advice of the Navy's Office of Awards and Special Projects.

Dalton's memo says the citations justifying the awards "plainly state they were awarded for service including combat operations." Zumwalt's memo said it was "appropriate, justified and proper" for Boorda to have the decorations.

Wearing an unauthorized decoration is a severe breach of military protocol.