Having earned his officers' credentials in 1962 and his university degree in 1971, he was on the rise during the Vietnam War. He served as an instructor, commanding a minesweeper and then on the destroyer Farragut. Neither of these appointments took him to Vietnam, but his posting to the destroyer Craig in 1965 and the frigate Brooke from 1971 to 1973 were in the waters off the coast of the war zone. Boorda's records confirm that these stints earned him his commendation and meritorious service awards - but not the bronze V.After Vietnam, Boorda was placed in charge of a destroyer squadron, serving on a dozen warships around the world, and was elevated to admiral in 1984. Their marriage was a failure, Boorda dropped out of high school and, according to his own accounts, began drinking six-packs of beer and getting into trouble.

In a search for structure to his life, he enlisted in the Navy at the age of 17 and married Bettie Moran, his childhood sweetheart two years later. His first son was born before he was 20 with Goltz's syndrome in which organs and limbs are missing or malformed. Boorda earned Navy Achievement and Navy Commendation medals during the Vietnam era, but the questions were raised about the "V"s (for valour) that he wore on the colour bars. Valour insignia were awarded if your ship came under fire or was close to the enemy. Mike Boorda's grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Ukraine His parents ran a dress shop in Momence, Indiana. In Navy argot, he was the first Mustang to get to four-star status. Boorda's apparent suicide came an hour before he was scheduled to be interviewed by Newsweek magazine about two insignia he had worn that the magazine's military expert, retired Colonel David Hackworth, suspected were never awarded to the admiral. The shares were placed at 220p; an opening price of around 240p seems likely.Innovative Technologies, a medical dressings group, jumped 18p to 166p, responding to an agency cross of 100,000 shares at 158p..

Admiral Jeremy "Mike" Boorda, who was found yesterday with gunshot wounds to the chest, apparently self-inflicted, was the first enlisted man to become Chief of Naval Operations and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff He oversaw 450,000 sailors deployed around the world. It said it had no present intention of bidding.Orb Estates languished at 69p, off 4p, as Quintain, a privately owned property group, failed to agree terms for a reverse takeover and Prior, rumoured to be in talks with Jermyn Investments gained 16p to 126p after the Prior family sold, just before the market closed, its 26.8 per cent stake to a Swedish property group, Fermenta at 157.5p a share.Appleyard, the garage chain, gained 4p to 112p and Glenchewton, adding to its pubs portfolio, was little changed at 57.5p.Luminar, a night club group, is expected to achieve a rousing debut when dealings start on Monday. Ahead of Tuesday's crucial presentation on its cancer drug British Biotech gained 45p to 2,845p.British Airways, rumoured to be near to clinching a deal with American Airlines, climbed 19p to 558p. One idea is that the two will create the world's biggest aviation alliance by forging a trading pact and taking share stakes in each other.British Gas experienced more heavy trading with Seaq putting turnover at 93 million; the price gained 3p to 177.5p.Among waters Brockhampton was unchanged at 202p as East Surrey, a water group, snapped up 14.4 per cent of the voting shares and 34.8 per cent of the non-voters. Allders fell 14p to 226p following the sale of its duty-free operation to BAA for pounds 130m.Glaxo Wellcome was strong again, up 17.5p to 854p.