Figure 4: Reverse of the Arleigh Burke Honor Award presented to Ensign Judith B. Jenkins, USNR

(author’s collection).

... has attained academic preeminence and in her mastery of the customs and traditions of the Naval Service her outstanding personal example, and her demonstrated ability to inspire others has evidenced the highest qualities of naval leadership.

Whether or not the citation was changed further is unknown as the Naval War College Manuscript Collection has neither a record of, nor a copy of, any of the citations. The certificate in the article is the only known example. In a telephone interview with the author, the recipient indicated that receiving the Arleigh Burke Honor Award was one of the great highlights of her early naval career.

In June of 1973 the Women Officers School was merged

with the Naval Officer Candidate School into a single

naval officer candidate school. Henceforth there would

no longer be a separate women officer school or training

syllabus. However, Captain Howard N. Kay, Commander,

Naval Officer Training Center, USN desired to keep the

Arleigh Burke Honor Award in existence but wanted to

open it up to all officer candidates regardless of gender.

In August, Captain Kay conveyed his suggestion in a

letter directly to Admiral Burke. Captain Kay made

several suggestions to the Admiral for a revised award

which included presenting the award eight times a year

[due to the normal sequence of the merged officer

candidate school class sequence] and to substitute "a

medallion of lesser cost or a different award entirely" because of the increased number of awards to be presented. Captain Kay was anticipating November 1973 to present the first new award.21

The September 1973 letter from Admiral Burke quoted at the beginning of this article was in response to Captain Kay’s August 1973 letter. Admiral Burke was not only displeased with the merger of the two schools, "It is my conviction that there is nothing to be gained by submerging a useful suitably oriented program in an effort to standardize matters that are not alike" but he also expressed his displeasure at Captain Kay’s suggested changes with the award that bore his name. Admiral Burke rather forcefully stated in his reply "I am sorry but I can not agree to that change... This award was designed as a sincere tribute to the women officers of our Navy and if it can no longer be regarded as such, it has lost its reason for being.’’22

Captain Kay further responded to Admiral Burke on September 24, 1973 to again suggest that because the "present medallion is inscribed with the seal and motto of the Women Officers School, which has ceased to exist, it is no longer an appropriate design" thus the proposed changes were appropriate and everyone connected with the new program was desirous to keep and maintain the Arleigh Burke Honor Award albeit in a different form. Captain Kay provided the Admiral with several more suggestions.23

The Admiral had also sent copies of his response to Captain Kay to Captains Rita Lenihan, and Alma G. Ellis, both now retired and both heavily involved in the creation and design of the award with Admiral Burke, seeking their input. Both responded to the Admiral with their suggestions for the perpetuation of the award. Additionally a copy was sent to Commander Julia J. Di Lorenzo, Assistant Director, OCS.24

Admiral Burke again responded to Captain Kay in December 1973 suggesting (and providing an example) a copper medallion be struck for the award and the setting up of a committee comprising female Naval Officers to determine what should be done with the Arleigh Burke Honor Award-- quite obviously still fighting for a female only award. Captain Key responded in January 1974 tactfully stating that there would not be a separate woman’s award but provided yet another new award suggestion. This new suggestion stated that with the advent of the Surface Warfare Officer course a "new" Arleigh Burke Honor Award could be presented to "that officer who excels during the fifteen week" program.25

Vol. 58, No. 3 29

With that final bit of correspondence the files end and with it the original concept of the Admiral Arleigh Burke Honor Award. There is no indication that the "new" award and all of its suggested revisions and changes was approved by the Admiral or instituted by the newly established Naval Education and Training Center as discussed. However, the Surface Warfare School currently does present an Arleigh Burke Award to a "high standing member’’26 of the school. TheAdmiral’s legacy is carried on; however, not in the manner he wished nor for which he stridently fought.

The Admiral Arleigh Burke Honor Award is one of the scarcest of the modern day naval awards with only 11 ever awarded and one of the few specifically designated to be awarded to a female officer. The period 1969-1973 was a time of rapid change in the Navy and the merger of the Women Officers School into the regular officer candidate community was one of the many changes that occurred in the naval service. Those changes had now opened up of many different career opportunities to all officers without regard to gender and as a result the Arleigh Burke Honor Award, as the Admiral so aptly put it "... lost its reason for being."

Endnotes: 1. Letter dated September 10, 1973 from Admiral Arleigh Burke,

USN (Ret) to Captain Howard N. Kay, Commander, Naval Office Training Center, Newport, RI, Naval War College Library, Manuscript Collection, Ms. Coll. 33 Women Officers School 1948-1973.

2. Potter, E. B. Admiral ArIeigh Burke: A Biography. New York: Random House, 1990, p. 102-111 ; Jones, Ken and Hubert Kelley, Jr. Admiral Arleigh [31-Knot] Burke: The Story of a Fighting Sailor. New York: Chilton Co., 1962, p. 102

3. See Potter Chapter 18. 4. Potter, p. 336, 351-351,356-363; Jones and Kelley, p. 156-158. 5. See Potter Chapter 21. 6. Potter, p. 382-383; Jones and Kelley, p. 169. 7. Potter, p. 438; Jones and Kelley, p. 193. 8. Eventually the name was changed to the Center for Strategic and

International Studies (CSIS). Potter, p. 442-446. 9. Memorandum for Commanding Officer Dated June 14, 1967. The

Proposal Letter is missing from the Naval War College Ms. Coll. 33, however, the criteria was summarized in Memorandum for Commanding Officer dated June 14, 1967.

10. Letter dated February 19, 1968 from Captain Rita Lenihan, USN,

Assistant Chief of Naval Personnel for Women to Commander Alma G. Ellis, USN, Officer-in-Charge, United States Naval Women Officers School, Naval Base, Newport, Rhode Island. Mr. Sciarrotta was a highly regarded silversmith known worldwide for his work. A simple Google search brings up multiple pages ofAlfredo Sciarrotti pieces that are presently for sale or on auction.

Figure 5: Certificate for the Arleigh Burke Honor Award presented to an Ensign in the USNR.

JOMSA

11. Memorandum for the Record dated September 12, 1968, Naval War College Library, Manuscript Collection, Ms. Coll. 33, Women Officers’ School 1948-1973.

12. The first award was originally planned to be presented the October 1968 graduation ceremonies but did not occur. See Memorandum for the Record dated September 12, 1968 and letter dated March 5, 1969 from Captain Rita Lenihan, USN, Assistant Chief of Naval Personnel for Women to Captain C.F. Moul, USN, Commanding Officer, Naval Schools Command, Naval War College Library, Manuscript Collection, Ms. Coll. 33 Women

Officers School 1948-1973. 13. Letter dated March 5, 1969 from Captain Rita Lenihan, USN,

Assistant Chief of Naval Personnel for Women to Captain C.E Moul, USN, Commanding Officer, Naval Schools Command, Naval War College Library, Manuscript Collection, Ms. Coll. 33 Women Officers School 1948-1973.

14. Alfredo Sciarrotta invoice dated 5/8/69, Naval War College Library, Manuscript Collection, Ms. Coll. 33 Women Officers

School 1948-1973. 15. Memorandum for the Record dated October 16, 1970, and Letter

from Arleigh Burke dated February 1, 1971, Naval War College Library, Manuscript Collection, Ms. Coll. 33 Women Officers

" School 1948-1973. 16. Undated typed note in file signed in type BMW, Naval War

College Library, Manuscript Collection, Ms. Coll. 33 Women Officers School 1948-1973.

17. Undated list in Naval War College Library, Manuscript

Collection, Ms. Coll. 33 Women Officers School 1948-1973. 18. What happened to the class in February 1973? Unknown except

that there was no presentation possibly due to the merger and changes that were going on at the time. However, a letter dated September 10, 1973 from Admiral Arleigh Burke, USN (Ret) to Captain Howard Kay, USN, Naval War College Library, Manuscript Collection, Ms. Coll. 33 Women Officers School 1948-1973, Admiral Burke does state that "Occasionally the award has not been given because there was no graduate sufficiently outstanding to deserve it."

19. Copy reproduced by the recipient Capt, USNR, JAG, (Ret) and

sent to author November 2006; Phone Interview October 31, 2006 with author.

20. Letter dated August 14, 1973 from Captain Howard N. Kay, USN to Admiral Arleigh A. Burke, USN (Ret), Naval War College Library, Manuscript Collection, Ms. Coll. 33 Women Officers School 1948-1973.

21. Letter dated September 10, 1973 from Admiral Arleigh Burke, USN (Ret) to Captain Howard N. Kay, Commander, Naval Office Training Center, Newport, RI, Naval War College Library, Manuscript Collection, Ms. Coll. 33 Women Officers School 1948-1973.

22. Letter dated September 24, 1973 from Captain Howard N. Kay, USN, Commander, Naval Officer Training Center to Admiral Arleigh Burke, USN (Ret), Naval War College Library, Manuscript Collection, Ms. Coll. 33 Women Officers School 1948-1973. Other suggestions for a "new" award were a paperweight medallion with Admiral Burke’s likeness imbedded in Lucite, a desk plate bearing the Admiral’s likeness, a certificate or an engraved calling card tray,

23. Letter dated September 18, 1973 from Captain Rita Lenihan, USN (Ret) to Admiral Burke, letter dated September 24, 1973 from Captain Alma G. Ellis, USN (Ret) to Admiral Burke, letter dated September 27, 1973 from Commander Julia J. Di Lorenzo, USN, Assistant Director, OCS, to Admiral Arleigh A. Burke, USN (Ret), Naval War College Library, Manuscript Collection, Ms. Coll. 33 Women Officers School 1948-1973.

25. Letter dated December 3, 1973 from Admiral Arleigh Burke to Captain Kay, and letter dated May 13, 1974 from Captain Howard N. Kay, USN to Admiral Arleigh A. Burke, USN (Ret), Naval War College Library, Manuscript Collection, Ms. Coll. 33 Women Officers School 1948-1973.

26. Email dated October 31, 2006 from Evelyn M. Cherpak, Head, Naval Historical Collection, Naval War College, Newport, RI to

author.

In the News

British Distinguished Flying Cross to Marine

On March 21, 2007, Marine Major William D. Chesarek, Jr. received the Distinguished Flying Cross from Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace. He is the first United States serviceman to receive the award since World War II.

An Exchange Officer with the Royal Air Force’s 847th Naval Air Squadron, Commando Helicopter Force, based at Royal Naval Airstation, Yeovilton, Somerset, he was flying the Lynx AH47 helicopter during the action for which he received the award. In the evening of June 10, 2006, Major Chesarek was in the air near Amarah, Iraq, providing radio communication relay for British ground troops conducting search operations. While listening to radio transmissions he heard that a disabled British ve- hicle had become surrounded by a crowd of insurgents who were firing small arms and rocket-propelled gre- nades.

The citation for Major Chesarek’s decoration states the he "elected to fly low over the area in an attempt to dis- tract the crowd and if possible, to engage the insurgent," but because he was close to friendly ground troops he chose "to provide bold, harassing, very low level flight over the area in an attempt to disperse the crowd," rather than using his helicopter’s machine gun. He was then informed by the ground troops that a rocket-propelled grenade had passed near the tail of his helicopter.

Being informed by radio that a wounded British soldier needed evacuation, he acted as an air controller to coor- dinate close air support to disperse the insurgents and then landed his Lynx "ensuring the rapid evacuation of the badly injured soldier."

From an American Forces Press Service article by Marine Gunnery Sergeant Donald E. Preston.

Vol. 58, No. 3 31