Thank you, my friend Maj Marty Hogan for making us aware that November 29 is the anniversary of the birth of WWII U.S. Navy veteran United States Navy Admiral and the youngest person to serve as Chief of Naval Operations Elmo Russell "Bud" Zumwalt Jr. He enlisted and later was accepted as a midshipman at United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland and he graduated on June 19, 1942 and was commissioned as an ensign.
Rest in peace Elmo Russell "Bud" Zumwalt Jr.

Images:;
1.
2. Admiral Elmo Zumwalt Jr., Chief of Naval Operations (left), and Rear Admiral Robert S. Salzer, Commander Naval Forces Vietnam, discuss recent visit to Nam Can Naval Base
3. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, Jr (center background) Participates in a question and answer session with U.S. Navy Advisors at the Rach Soi Naval Base, Republic of Vietnam, in May 1971. Photographed by PH1 H.P. Shiplett. Note berets worn by Admiral Zumwalt and many of the others present. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command.
4. USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) sits pier-side at Canton Port Services in preparation for its commissioning on Oct. 15, 2016

Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr. (documentary)
"Elmo Russell "Bud" Zumwalt Jr. (November 29, 1920 – January 2, 2000) was an American naval officer and the youngest man to serve as Chief of Naval Operations. As an admiral and later the 19th Chief of Naval Operations, Zumwalt played a major role in U.S. military history, especially during the Vietnam War. A decorated war veteran, Zumwalt reformed U.S. Navy personnel policies in an effort to improve enlisted life and ease racial tensions. After he retired from a 32-year Navy career, he launched an unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. Senate."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXH1yCCNrKU

Biographies
1. history.navy.mil/research/library/research-guides/modern-biographical-files-ndl/modern-bios-z/zumwalt-elmo-russell.html
2. usnhistory.navylive.dodlive.mil/2016/10/20/navy-legend-admiral-elmo-bud-zumwalt-jr/

1. Background from history.navy.mil/research/library/research-guides/modern-biographical-files-ndl/modern-bios-z/zumwalt-elmo-russell.html
Biographical Summary
Full Name: Elmo Russell Zumwalt,Jr.
Date of Birth: 29 November 1920
Date of Death: 2 January 2000

Prominent Assignments:
Nominated on 14 April 1970 by President Nixon to serve as Chief of Naval Operations. Became CNO with rank of Admiral from 1 July 1970 to 1 July 1974.
Served as Commander U. S. Naval Forces, Vietnam and Chief of the Naval Advisory Group, U. S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, from 1 October 1968 to 15 May 1970.
As Director of the Chief of Naval Operations Systems Analysis Group from August 1966 to August 1968, he organized and directed the Systems Analysis Division and served as Deputy Scientific Officer to the Center for Naval Analyses.
Served as Commander Cruiser-Destroyer Flotilla SEVEN from July 1965 to July 1966.

Education:
1939 Valedictorian of Tulare High School, Tulare, CA
1939 Rutherford Preparatory School, Long Beach, CA
1942 Cum Laude Graduate of U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD
1953 Naval War College, Newport, RI
1962 National War College, Washington, DC

Other Highlights:
Eagle Scout.
Served as Commanding Officer of the first ship built from the keel up as a guided-missile ship USS Dewey (DLG-14)
Was prize crew officer of captured Japanese gunboat Ataka, captured at mouth of Yangtze River near end of WW II.
At age 44, the youngest naval officer ever promoted to Rear Admiral.
At age 49, the youngest four-star Admiral in U. S. naval history, and the youngest to serve as Chief of Naval Operations.

Biography:
Elmo Russell Zumwalt, Jr., was born in San Francisco, California, on 29 November 1920, son of Dr. E. H. Zumwalt and Dr. Frances Zumwalt. He attended Tulare (California) Union High School, where he was an Eagle Scout and Class Valedictorian and the Rutherford Preparatory School, at Long Beach, California, before his appointment to the U. S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, from his native state in 1939. As a Midshipman ho was President of the Trident Society, Vice President of the Quarterback Society, twice winner of the June Week Public Speaking Contest (1940, 1941) , Company Commander in 1941 and Regimental Three Striper in 1942, and participated in intercollegiate debating. Graduated with distinction and commissioned Ensign on 19 June 1942, with the Class of 1943, he subsequently progressed to the rank of Admiral, to date from 1 July 1970.

Following graduation from the Naval Academy in June 1942, he joined the destroyer USS Phelps, and in August 1943 was detached f or instruction in the Operational Training Command, Pacific, at San Francisco, California. In January 1944 he reported on board the USS Robinson, and for "heroic service as Evaluator in the Combat Information Center... (of that destroyer), in action against enemy Japanese battleships during the Battle for Leyte Gulf, 25 October 1944.. ." he was awarded the Bronze Star with Combat "V." The citation further states:

"During a torpedo attack on enemy battleships, Lieutenant Zumwalt furnished information indispensable to the success of the attack..."

After the cessation of hostilities in August 1945, until December 8th of that year, he commanded (as prize crew officer) HIMJS Ataka, a 1200-ton Japanese river gunboat with two hundred officers and men. In that capacity he took the first ship since the outbreak of World War II, flying the United States flag, up the Whangpoo River to Shanghai. There they helped to restore order and assisted in disarming the Japanese.

He next served as Executive Officer of the destroyer USS Saufley, and in March 1946 was transferred to the destroyer USS Zellars, as Executive Officer and Navigator. In January 1948 he was assigned to the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps Unit of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he remained until June 1950. That month he assumed command of USS Tills, in commission in reserve status. That destroyer escort was placed in full active commission at Charleston Naval Shipyard on 21 November 1950, and he continued to command her until March 1951, when he joined the battleship USS Wisconsin as Navigator.

"For meritorious service as Navigator of USS Wisconsin during combat operations against enemy North Korean and Chinese Communist forces in the Korean Theater from 23 November 1951 to 30 March 1952..." he received a Letter of Commendation, with Ribbon and Combat "V," from Commander Seventh Fleet. The letter continues: "As Navigator his competence and untiring diligence in assuring safe navigation of the ship enabled the commanding officer to devote the greater part of his attention to planning and gunfire Operations. His performance of duty was consistently Superior in bringing the ship through dangerously mined and restricted waters, frequently under adverse conditions and poor visibility. He assisted in the planning of the combat operations... (and) piloted Wisconsin into the closest possible inshore positions in which maximum effect could be obtained by gunfire..."

Detached from USS Wisconsin in June 1952, he attended the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, and in June 1953 reported as Head of the Shore and Overseas Bases Section, Bureau of Naval Personnel, Navy Department, Washington, D. C. He also served as Officer and Enlisted Requirements Officer and as Action Officer on Medicare Legislation. Completing that tour of duty in July 1955, he assumed command of the destroyer USS Arnold J. Isbell, participating in two deployments to the Seventh Fleet. In this assignment he was commended by the Commander, Cruiser-Destroyer Forces, U. S. Pacific Fleet for winning the Battle Efficiency Competition for his ship and for winning Excellence Awards in Engineering, Gunnery, Antisubmarine Warfare, and Operations. In July 1957 he returned to the Bureau of Naval Personnel for further duty. In December 1957 he was transferred to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Personnel and Reserve Forces), and served as Special Assistant for Naval Personnel until November 1958, then as Special Assistant and Naval Aide until August 1959.

Ordered to the first ship built from the keel up as a guided missile ship, USS Dewey (DLG-14), building at the Bath (Maine) Iron Works, he assumed command of that guided missile frigate at her commissioning in December 1959, and commanded her until June 1961. During this period of his command, Dewey earned the Excellence Award in Engineering, Supply, Weapons, and was runner-up in the Battle Efficiency Competition. He was a student at the National War College, Washington, D. C., during the 1961-1962 class year. In June he was assigned to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (International Security Affairs), Washington, D. C., where he served first as Desk Officer for France, Spain and Portugal, then as Director of Arms Control and Contingency Planning for Cuba. From December 1963 until 21 June 1965 he served as Executive Assistant and Senior Aide to the Honorable Paul H. Nitze, Secretary of the Navy. For duty in his tour in the offices of the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of the Navy, he was awarded the Legion of Merit.

After his selection for the rank of Rear Admiral, he assumed command in July 1965 of Cruiser-Destroyer Flotilla Seven. "For exceptionally meritorious service..." in that capacity, he was awarded a Gold Star in lieu of a Second Legion of Merit. In August 1966 he became Director of the Chief of Naval Operations Systems Analysis Group, Washington, D. C., and for "exceptionally meritorious service... as Director, Systems Analysis Division, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Deputy Scientific Officer to the Center for Naval Analyses, during the period from August 1966 to August 1968..." he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal. The citation further states in part:

"Rear Admiral Zumwalt, by direction of the Chief of Naval Operations, established the Systems Analysis Division and rapidly developed it into a highly effective, responsive organization. Under his leadership, the division has assisted in generating within the Navy a better understanding of requirements, problems and a more effective presentation of those requirements in major program areas which will strongly influence the combat capabilities of U. S. Naval Forces through the next generation. (He) has displayed exceptional acumen, integrity, tact and diplomacy as personal representative of the Chief of Naval Operations, not only in dealings within the Department of Defense, but also in testifying before Congressional Committees. Among the major analyses completed under his direct supervision were the major Fleet Escort, Antisubmarine Warfare Force Level, Tactical Air, Surface-to-Surface Missile, and War-at-Sea Studies. Additionally, under Rear Admiral Zumwalt's guidance, the Center for Naval Analyses has been restructured, and its methodologies clearly defined with such precision as to ensure that completed studies will reflect thoroughness, comprehensiveness and accuracy when subjected to closest scrutiny..."

In September 1968 he became Commander Naval Forces, Vietnam and Chief of the Naval Advisory Group, U. S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. President Richard M. Nixon nominated him as Chief of Naval Operations on 14 April 1970. Upon being relieved as Commander Naval Forces, Vietnam, on 15 May 1970, he was awarded a Gold Star in lieu of a second Distinguished Service Medal for exceptionally meritorious service. He assumed command as Chief of Naval Operations on 1 July 1970 and retired from that position on 1 July 1974. In 1976, he unsuccessfully ran as a Democratic candidate for the Senate from Virginia. Later he held the presidency of the American Medical Building Corporation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Admiral Zumwalt died on 2 January 2000 at the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC. His home was in Arlington, Virginia. He was married to the former Mouza Coutelais-du-Roche of Harbin, Manchuria, and they had two sons, Elmo R. Zumwalt III, who died of cancer in 1988, and James Gregory Zumwalt, and two daughters, Ann F. Zumwalt Coppola and Mouza C. Zumwalt-Weathers. He was also survived by six grandchildren."

2. Background from usnhistory.navylive.dodlive.mil/2016/10/20/navy-legend-admiral-elmo-bud-zumwalt-jr/
Navy Legend: Admiral Elmo “Bud” Zumwalt, Jr.
– OCTOBER 20, 2016
POSTED IN: PEOPLE
By Guest Blogger: Marine Col. (Ret.) James “Jim” G. Zumwalt, son of Adm. Elmo “Bud” Zumwalt, Jr.

Editor’s Note: As the commissioning of USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) drew near, we knew we wanted to share more information about Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr., the 19th Chief of Naval Operations. There was no question whatever we came up with would qualify as a post in our series of Navy Legend blogs. While preparing the other blogs connected with the commissioning we were privileged to create posts based on our conversations with Zumwalt’s three surviving children, Ann Zumwalt, James Zumwalt and Mouzetta Zumwalt-Weathers. During those conversations, Jim shared with us a letter he had written in a campaign to have a postage stamp created honoring his father. Although that bid eventually proved unsuccessful, the letter was a moving testament to the achievements of a legendary Navy leader. Since we can think of no one more qualified to speak about Admiral Zumwalt than his son, this Navy Legends blog post is made up of excerpts from that letter penned by Lt. Col. James G. Zumwalt, USMCR (Retired).

My father’s achievements were so well recognized at the time of his death on January 2, 2000, that seven months later President Clinton—who had earlier presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom to him—announced a new class of warship was to be named after him. The lead ship of that class— USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) is commissioned today, Oct. 15, 2016 in Baltimore, Md.

Navy ships have long been named in honor of men and women who achieved great accomplishments. USS Zumwalt recognizes a man who dedicated much of his life to leveling life’s playing field for others who were unable to do so for themselves. A military man by profession, Admiral Zumwalt would prove himself not only to be of such an ilk, but a tremendous innovator and great humanitarian as well.

Admiral Zumwalt enjoyed an immensely successful naval career that witnessed a meteoric rise to the U.S. Navy’s top position. At the age of 44, he was the Navy’s youngest Rear Admiral; at 47, its youngest Vice Admiral; and, at age 49, its youngest Admiral and Chief of Naval Operations (CNO).

During a 32-year career that included fighting in three wars, Admiral Zumwalt committed his life to achieving equality for all serving in his beloved Navy. While his life as a junior officer was spent practicing this belief on a local command level, it was not until he became CNO that he was able to implement such beliefs on a service-wide basis through a series of very creative leadership initiatives.

As reported in the Dec. 21, 1970 issue of Time Magazine, which featured him on its cover, Admiral Zumwalt’s initiatives brought the US Navy, “kicking and screaming into the 20th Century.” The article went on to hail him as “the Navy’s most popular leader since World War II.”

The impact of Admiral Zumwalt’s racial equality initiatives is evident today as one of the Navy’s most senior officers is an African-American woman, Admiral Michelle Howard, who credits his policies as having paved the way for her own success.

While the beneficiaries of many of the changes Admiral Zumwalt implemented in the Navy were members of minority groups whose professional growth within the service had been stymied by overly restrictive regulations, he worked diligently to improve service life for all wearing the Navy uniform.

What had prompted his selection in 1970 by President Nixon over 33 more senior admirals was his advocacy for rapid and drastic changes in the way the Navy treated its uniformed men and women. And, once selected, he made their advocacy a reality, undertaking numerous initiatives that included:

improving living conditions in the Navy
promoting the first female and first African-American officers to flag rank
allowing females to become naval aviators
opening up ratings for Filipino Sailors whose service had long been limited to a steward’s rating
eliminating demeaning and abrasive U.S. Navy regulations that negatively impacted Sailors’ attitudes without providing a corresponding positive enhancement of professional performance and many more.
The positive impact of Admiral Zumwalt’s changes was tremendous, as evidenced by the effect on re-enlistment rates. These rates were at an all-time low when he took command of the Navy in 1970; when he retired four years later, re-enlistment rates had tripled. His personal papers, on file at The Vietnam Center at Texas Tech University, include numerous letters from Sailors written over the years expressing their personal gratitude for changes he made that impacted so positively on their decision to stay and make the Navy a career.

When Admiral Zumwalt retired from the Navy in 1974, it did not end his service to country. He continued in numerous capacities to fight for the oppressed. Having served as Commander of U.S. Naval Forces in Vietnam during the war, he was of the belief a commander’s responsibility to his men survived the battlefield, prompting him to fight for U.S. government benefits for Vietnam veterans suffering from Agent Orange exposure.

By way of background, Admiral Zumwalt had ordered the use of the chemical defoliant Agent Orange during the war to reduce the high casualty rate his Sailors were suffering. Heavy jungle concealment provided the enemy with the element of surprise in ambushes against U.S. Navy patrol boats operating in Vietnam’s narrow waterways.

The Sailors onboard these boats stood a 72% chance of being killed or wounded during a twelve-month tour. The use of Agent Orange improved survivability, reducing the casualty rate twelve-fold—to just 6%. However, it was not until years later that the adverse long-term health impact of Agent Orange on those exposed to it became known.

In a bitter irony of the Vietnam War, one of those so exposed, later succumbing to Agent Orange-related cancers, was Admiral Zumwalt’s namesake and my older brother—Elmo R. Zumwalt III. A book, entitled “My Father, My Son,” tells the story of the love and devotion that existed between the two men as, together, they fought the unsuccessful battle for young Elmo’s survival. In 1988, the book became the basis for a made-for-TV movie of the same title starring the late Karl Malden.

Until Admiral Zumwalt led the charge for benefits for Vietnam veterans afflicted by Agent Orange exposure, not a single cancer had been recognized by the Veterans Administration as having a causal relationship. Appointed by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to conduct a pro bono study on the linkage of Agent Orange to cancers, Admiral Zumwalt analyzed dozens of medical studies—studies that had found no correlation—until he showed how such studies were flawed—a phenomenal undertaking for someone with no medical background.

Additionally, Admiral Zumwalt discovered the U.S. government’s medical review board, responsible for determining if such correlations were supported by existing medical evidence, lacked credibility in this role as its members included physicians with personal ties to the very chemical companies that had manufactured Agent Orange.

Today, medical evidence has established that more than two dozen cancers are linked to Agent Orange exposure. And, as a direct result of Admiral Zumwalt’s tireless efforts, Vietnam veterans are now receiving medical benefits.

Admiral Zumwalt’s sense of duty and responsibility to his fellow human beings spurred him on to other great achievements. He was founder of The Marrow Foundation, which raised funding to undertake the matching of bone marrow donors and recipients. He served briefly as a U.S. ambassador to the American Red Cross in Geneva. In the years after the Vietnam War, he worked diligently to win the early release of his good friend and South Vietnamese counterpart in Vietnam during the conflict, Commodore Tran van Chon, from a communist re-education camp.

During his lifetime, Admiral Zumwalt gave extensively of his own time and energy to pro bono efforts. These included serving on the Board of Directors of charitable organizations such as the Phelps-Stokes Fund, Presidential Classroom for Young Americans Organization, National Marrow Donor Program, and Vietnam Assistance to the Handicapped Foundation; serving as the Chairman of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, the National Council of the Vietnam Center at Texas Tech University, and the U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation; serving as a member of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board and the International Consortium for Research on the Health Effects of Radiation.

One of Admiral Zumwalt’s last contributions was to establish the National Program for Countermeasures to Biological and Chemical Threats at Texas Tech University, which later was named after him. This is a multidisciplinary academic research program that today conducts cutting-edge work to investigate and develop new strategies and technologies to protect military forces from such threats.

Tragically, Admiral Zumwalt would succumb to a service-related “environmental cancer” brought on by exposure to asbestos during his naval service. In the early morning hours of the new millennium, at the age of 79, he passed away on January 2, 2000.

At Admiral Zumwalt’s funeral on January 10, 2000, in addressing a standing room only Chapel service at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., President Bill Clinton described him as truly being a “Sailors’ Admiral.”

Among the numerous tributes made after his death was one entered into the January 24, 2000 Congressional Record by Senator Russell D. Feingold of Wisconsin who said: “Admiral Zumwalt crusaded for a fair and equal Navy. He fought to promote equality for minorities and women at a time of considerable racial strife in our country and at a time of deeply entrenched institutional racism and sexism in the Navy…Admiral Elmo Zumwalt was a great naval leader, a visionary and a courageous challenger of the conventional wisdom. We will not see the likes of him again. We mourn his passing and salute his accomplishments.”

Because of Admiral Zumwalt’s commitment in life to improving the lives of others, a number of awards bearing his name—recognizing his accomplishments as a humanitarian and a visionary—exist today, not only in the U.S. Navy, but in the private sector as well. The positive impact Admiral Zumwalt had as one of this Nation’s great military leaders and humanitarians was recognized by two major events—one occurring during his lifetime and one following his death.

First, in 1998, Admiral Zumwalt was presented with the Nation’s highest civilian honor by President Clinton—the Presidential Medal of Freedom—for service both to his Navy and country.

In part, the citation read, for “exemplifying the ideal of service to our country, both in wartime and in peacetime. He not only created a higher quality of life for sailors during his service in the Navy, but also fought tirelessly for veterans afflicted with medical conditions resulting from service to their country.” President Clinton called Admiral Zumwalt “one of the greatest models of integrity and leadership and humanity our Nation has ever produced.”

Second, on July 4, 2000, at an Independence Day celebration onboard the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CV 67), President Clinton announced a new class of warship—one unlike any other ever built, representing the greatest technological advancement in the history of ship-building—would be named after my father, with the first ship of the class to be named USS Zumwalt.

As USS Zumwalt enters the fleet, it ushers in a whole new era in U.S. naval history. Future ships of the 21st century Navy will incorporate many of the design features and unique capabilities for which USS Zumwalt has broken new ground.

One of my father’s favorite quotes was Edmond Burke’s admonition, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” My father lived his life by this creed. Not a minute of it was wasted doing “nothing.” His life was dedicated to helping his fellow man."

FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen LTC Greg Henning LTC Jeff Shearer Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. 'Bill' Price CPT Scott Sharon CWO3 Dennis M. SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SSG William Jones SGT (Join to see) SGT John " Mac " McConnell SP5 Mark Kuzinski PO1 H Gene Lawrence PO2 Kevin Parker PO3 Bob McCord MSgt David HoffmanSgt (Join to see)Sgt (Join to see)

Even the AF folks read about Zumwalt

The man created a lot of change in the Navy, some good, some bad, depends on which sailor you talk to.