Clinton Consoles Kin of Admiral Who Killed Self

WASHINGTON — President Clinton spent a tearful hour and a half Saturday consoling the widow of Adm. Jeremy M. Boorda and their four children in the family’s home at the Washington Navy Yard. The visit ended with Clinton and the family holding hands in prayer for Boorda, the Navy’s top officer, who shot himself outside the house on Thursday.

“It was a very personal and emotional visit,” said White House spokesman Brian Cullen. “As overwhelming as it was for the family, they were grateful he was there.”

Boorda, 56, the only person ever to rise from seaman to chief of naval operations, shot himself in the chest with a .38-caliber revolver after some reporters raised questions about whether he had improperly worn combat pins that adorned his uniform until last year.

In the wake of the tragedy, a dispute has erupted over whether Boorda in fact had the right to wear the tiny “V” pins. A Navy spokesman said Saturday that the service has not initiated a formal investigation into the matter but that Navy officials were informally looking into the paperwork for Boorda’s awards.

Navy Secretary John H. Dalton said he is confident--if in fact Boorda made an error--that it was unintentional. “Mike Boorda never intended to mislead anyone,” Dalton said in an appearance on NBC-TV. “I’m sure he intended to correct the mistake, if it was a mistake.”

Boorda is to be buried today in a private ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. A larger memorial service is scheduled for Tuesday at the Washington National Cathedral.

The admiral’s widow, Bettie, gave the president a tour of the maritime paintings and antiques in the white-brick Georgian-style townhouse built in 1804, and the memorabilia from the Boordas’ life together as a Navy couple over four decades.

Then they walked in a garden outside the home, and Clinton joined the four children and several grandchildren in the living room for a remembrance of the admiral. “Each one spoke in turn about memories of their father, and the president spoke about his experiences with the passing of parents,” Cullen said. Clinton’s mother, Virginia Kelley, and father-in-law, Hugh Rodham Sr., both died in 1994.

The Boorda children who took part are David, 38; Edward, 37; Anna, 36; and Robert, 35. Two of his children are naval officers. Edward is a Navy commander assigned to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Robert is a lieutenant commander who works as a Navy lawyer in London.

At the end of his visit the president extended his hands in a prayer circle with the Boorda family. The visit, which was Clinton’s idea, had been scheduled to last an hour but extended to more than an hour and a half, Cullen said.

The White House is awaiting a recommendation for Boorda’s successor from Defense Secretary William J. Perry and Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Adm. Jay L. Johnson, vice chief of naval operations, is serving as acting chief.