Arleigh Burke Quotes

Arleigh Burke was born in Boulder, Colorado. He was an admiral of the United States Navy who distinguished himself during World War II and the Korean War, and who served as Chief of Naval Operations during the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in June 1923, and was commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy. He married Miss Roberta Gorsuch of Washington, D.C. Over the next 18 years, Burke prepared himself for combat, serving in battleships and destroyers, and earning a Master of Science in Engineering at the University of Michigan. When World War II came, he found himself, to his great disappointment, in a shore billet at the Naval Gun Factory in Washington, D.C. After persistent effort on his part, he received orders to join the fighting in the South Pacific. On January 10, 1977, Burke was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Gerald Ford.