    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
    [May 21, 1996]
    [Pages 785-787]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 785]]

    Remarks at the Funeral Service for Admiral Jeremy M. Boorda
    May 21, 1996

        Mrs. Boorda, Mike's family, Secretary Christopher and our friends
    from the diplomatic corps, Secretary Perry, Secretary Dalton, General
    Shalikashvili, members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, unified commanders
    in chief, the leadership and Members of Congress who are here, Admiral
    Johnson and the flag leadership of our Navy, Master Chief Petty Officer
    of the Navy Hagan, to our great Navy sailors and all of America's Armed
    Forces. Today we come to honor and give thanks for the life of Mike
    Boorda, a special man who earned a special place in the heart of his
    Navy and the heart of our Nation. He lived a life that makes America
    proud, beginning, of course, with his family. His first words upon
    becoming Chief of Naval Operations were, ``I wouldn't be here if it
    wasn't for Bettie, and I wouldn't want to be here without her.''
        To Bettie and David and Edward and Anna, your families, I know there
    is nothing we can say or do to ease the loss of your husband and father
    and grandfather. I hope you find comfort in the love and respect and
    honor that surrounds you today, here in this great cathedral and all
    throughout our great land. I thank you for your service to the Navy. I
    thank you, Bettie. I thank you, Edward and Robert, for your service. I
    thank you, David, for your work on the radio. I thank you, Anna, for
    your devotion and for your husband's service, and Edward, for your
    wife's service. But your entire family is a model, a reflection of Mike
    Boorda's remarkable love for the Navy, a Navy in which he enlisted when
    he was just 16.
        When he was first in his class at personnelman school in San Diego,
    he was offered his choice of assignments. Displaying his characteristic
    compassion, he traded the slot with a friend whose wife was sick and
    expecting a baby. So the friend got to stay in San Diego, and Mike got
    shipped to Oklahoma. Oklahoma's coastline leaves something to be desired
    for people designing a career in the Navy. But it turned out to be a
    first-rate assignment because that's where he met Bettie.
        He was commissioned an officer in 1962. Then his star rose fast and
    bright with important assignments, from weapons officer aboard
    destroyers to Chief of Naval Personnel to commander in chief of our
    Naval forces in Europe and CINC of the Southern Command. And as all of
    you know, 2 years ago just last month, he became the very first enlisted
    man in the entire history of the United States Navy to be the Chief of
    Naval Operations.
        At every turn he led in helping us, our country, live up to its
    responsibilities as the world's leading force for freedom. He served two
    tours of duty in Southeast Asia. As has been said today, as commander in
    chief of Allied Forces in Southern Europe, he ordered the first
    offensive action in NATO's history, the strikes against Bosnian Serb
    aircraft violating the no-fly zone.
        I know his family is especially proud of the role he played and the
    role that they supported in getting food and relief to the war-torn
    people of Bosnia. I very much want history to record that Mike Boorda's
    quiet determination to do all we could do to end the slaughter of the
    children and the innocents in Bosnia and to bring that awful war to an
    end had a profound impact on his President and on the policy of this
    Nation.
        Even after he became Chief of Naval Operations, I continued to ask
    him what he thought we should do to get a reality check on the rest of
    the advice I was given. And I want to say to all of you what I said to
    his family this last weekend. It is my belief that perhaps more than any
    other military officer in this country, Mike Boorda helped to lead us to
    the point of peace at Dayton. And there are countless thousands of
    people alive in Bosnia today because of this small man with a big heart,
    a large vision, and great courage.
        He developed new strategies to carry our Navy into the 21st century.
    He spearheaded projects like theater ballistic missile defense and the
    arsenal ship that have put our Navy on the cutting edge of technology.
        Like all great sailors, he loved the sea, and he loved sea stories.
    The stories about him are legion and now legend. I'm told that when I
    nominated him to be the Chief of Naval Operations, he called his mother,
    Trudy Wallace, from Italy to tell her that he was about to become the
    CNO. She asked if it was a promotion.

    [[Page 786]]

    He said, ``No, I'm already a four-star admiral.'' She asked if he were
    going to get a raise. He said, ``No, I'll be making a little less; I'm
    losing my overseas living allowance.'' She then said, ``Well, surely
    you'll get a bigger house.'' And he said, ``Actually, it will be smaller
    than the Mediterranean villa we have now.'' Apparently, his mother then
    said, ``Well, don't you have enough time in to retire?'' [Laughter] Now,
    every family has got a story like that. Well, he didn't get a raise or a
    promotion or a bigger house, but he got a bigger job, and he did his
    mother and his family and his country proud.
        Many have said before me that his lasting legacy will be his concern
    for the sailors. He knew the people were the Navy's greatest asset. And
    every day he made the Navy stronger because he took good care of its
    sailors. He loved the bluejackets, and he loved the officers. When he
    came on board a ship or entered a room of sailors, you could see the
    twinkle in his eye. Without ever ranting or reprimanding, criticizing or
    cajoling, he found a way to bring out the best of everyone, seaman or
    admiral, boatswain mate to battle group commander. Talk to him for just
    a few moments, and you couldn't help but like him; you couldn't help but
    love our Navy even more and want to do the best you could for our
    country.
        He also understood that beyond the things that he fought for that
    were material for our men and women in uniform, beyond the better
    housing, the better pay, the better time at home with families, there
    was, above all, the importance of caring and compassion. Last year in
    Norfolk, he spoke to a theater full of sailors. The chief machinist mate
    nervously stepped up to the microphone and explained his predicament.
    His wife had recently passed away, and he was left with two young
    daughters. He told the CNO that he had 6 months before his retirement
    date, but he would have to reenlist before then, and that meant more sea
    duty and separation from his children. Right there at the mike, the CNO
    asked, ``So you want to retire in June?'' The MMC meekly replied, ``Yes,
    sir.'' And right then and there, Admiral Boorda said, ``Your request is
    approved. We'll work it out.''
        The Admiral used to joke about being small in stature. Shortly after
    I named him Chief of Naval Operations, we were in the English Channel
    together, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Normandy invasion on
    the aircraft carrier the George Washington. And I spoke just as I am
    now, but I had the Presidential lectern there. And when I finished, he
    was coming up, so I pulled out the stand for him to stand on. And he got
    up, and he looked at me, and he said, ``You know, this is the second
    time you've elevated me in the last couple of months.'' [Laughter]
        Well, that's the kind of sense of honor he had. Even though he was
    very small, the rest of us always looked up to him, looked up to his
    ability somehow to inspire us all to do better, to reach beyond
    ourselves.
        There was reported in the press a Navy photographer's remarks I
    would like to repeat who said, ``Everyone was always asking me to take
    photos with him. They wanted to stand next to the best thing the Navy
    had.''
        Before I came over here today, I visited the Pentagon. And I went to
    the Navy Command Center to the briefing room that Admiral Boorda began
    his day in several times a week to thank the staff who worked with him
    every day and who can't be with us here today because they're on duty,
    as he would want them to be. And they were encouraged to tell me
    whatever they want. I thought you might be interested to know what those
    people who are now over at the Pentagon, doing the work they did every
    day for Mike Boorda, had to say to me.
        One said, ``There's a $5 bill over there on the wall. Do you see it,
    Mr. President?'' I said, ``Yes, I did.'' He said, ``That's the bet the
    Admiral had with the weatherman every time we had a briefing. He always
    bet against the weatherman. And as of the last bet, he was $5 ahead.''
    Another said that every time there was a briefing in the morning, he
    brought in strips of bacon and literally shoved bacon at everyone else.
    He was always trying to share his bacon and make people laugh about it.
    A third said that the thing that meant the most to her was that at
    Christmastime he literally greeted every single sailor in the Pentagon.
    No matter how much time it took, that's what he did.
        A young sailor in the office said that the thing that moved her most
    was that she handled his correspondence, and he would never let her send
    a form letter. Even when someone wrote to him and went outside the chain
    of command, he would write a gentle letter back explaining what the
    chain of command was. But it was always a personal letter, so that the
    young sailor

    [[Page 787]]

    who wrote would know that the CNO really cared and really read the
    letter.
        And finally, one very large African-American sailor from the State
    of Tennessee stood up in the back of the room, and he said, ``Mr.
    President, how can we ever replace this man?''
        In the Bible there is the great story of two warriors and friends,
    David and Jonathan. When they prepared to part, Jonathan said,
    ``Tomorrow there is a new Moon, and thou shalt be missed, because thy
    seat will be empty.'' Mike Boorda's seat is empty, and how we shall miss
    his warm smile, his easy manner, his wonderful voice, his sharp wit.
    What a legacy he has left behind: his ferocious devotion to all of you;
    his commitment to give all of you a chance to be the very best that you
    can be, to give our country its chance for true greatness; his deep
    sense of honor, which no person should ever question.
        Now Mike Boorda's ship is moored. His voyage is complete. But I know
    when the whistle blew and the colors were shifted, he was welcomed on
    the pier by God's loving, eternal embrace. May God bless and cherish
    Admiral Mike Boorda as he blessed and cherished our lives and our
    beloved America.

    Note: The President spoke at 12:26 p.m. at the Washington National
    Cathedral. In his remarks he referred to Adm. Jay L. Johnson, Acting
    Chief of Naval Operations, and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy
    John P. Hagan. The related proclamation of May 17 on the death of
    Admiral Boorda is listed in Appendix D at the end of this volume.