Artillery award misfire: Honor for comic-book author and veteran Stan Lee draws criticism - Entertainment, Books - Navy Times

Artillery award misfire: Honor for comic-book author and veteran Stan Lee draws criticism

In a tale with as many flips and twists as a Spider-Man cliffhanger, comic-book superhero creator Stan Lee was slated to receive a top artillery award at an annual comic book convention recently in a PR stunt that ended with Lee missing in action and members of the artillery community up in arms.

Like the induction of actor Tom Hanks into the Ranger Hall of Fame in 2006, the drama has left some wondering if military officials are at risk of diluting a time-honored award in exchange for a little celebrity buzz.

The story starts with Lani Hay, a Navy officer-turned-defense contractor. As president of Lanmark Technology, Hay says she was asked to get the 88-year-old Lee a military award as part of her company’s sponsorship of the Music Lodge at this year’s Comic-Con convention in San Diego.

Hay says her staff reached out to with military contacts to put the whole thing together at the request of Marvel Comics executives.

While most comic-book fans know Lee as one of the godfathers of that particular cosmos, breathing life into a legion of characters ranging from Spidey and the Hulk to Iron Man and the Fantastic Four, Lee got his start as a writer in the stateside Army during World War II.

Hay got help from Maj. Gen. David Halverson, commander of the Army Field Artillery Center at Fort Sill, Okla., who signed off on the Honorable Order of St. Barbara award for Lee.

The medal is traditionally reserved for career cannon cockers in the Army and Marine Corps who have made their mark on the field artillery or air defense communities. St. Barbara also serves as the patron saint of Navy and Marine Corps bomb builders.

“During his short stint in the military, Lee wrote several training manuals and films for the artillery and all other branches of the service,” stated the write-up for Lee’s award.

The only problem: While Lee is proud of creating characters such as “Fiscal Freddy,” a pay clerk character for finance officer training, as well as drafting a venereal disease awareness campaign — “I figure I singlehandedly won the war by saving the Army from VD,” he laughs now — he says he does not recall ever writing any manuals or films for the field artillery.

Now, officials say they’re not sure he ever did.

Halverson’s artillery command historian was unable to find anything that Lee might have been involved in.

A ‘neat medal’

Recently retired Army Col. Laurie Moe Buckhout defends Halverson’s decision. “He can give it to anyone he wants,” says Buckhout, who now works for Lanmark as Hay’s vice president and helped arranged the award for Lee.

“I’m a signal officer, and I myself have one of these St. Barbs,” says Buckhout, who says she received the award for her work in electronic warfare when she served under Halverson at the Pentagon.

The award “is an honorific, it’s like an honorary degree or the keys to the city or something. ... It’s a neat medal you drape around your neck.” Plus, she adds, “as much as I was thrilled to get it, it’s not an official decoration.”

Larry Icenogle, a spokesman for Halverson, says in recent years it has become commonplace for influential civilians with ties to Fort Sill or the artillery — ranging from mayors, civic officials, tribal leaders, some defense contractors and other “friends of field artillery and such” to receive the award.

In Lee’s case, the award “was given to a former soldier and WWII veteran whose contributions, both in the Army and beyond, are in keeping with and representative of all the high standards of achievement and selfless service associated with the Honorary Order of Saint Barbara,” Icenogle says.

Calls for fire

“Frankly, I’m disgusted,” says Marine Col. Trevor Kleineahlbrandt, a career artilleryman who rates his own Order of St. Barbara Award second only to his two combat action ribbons.

“I’m a big fan of Stan Lee, but this is not what the award is for. It means something to us. It’s not a trinket to be given out easily. It’s supposed to mean you’re the real deal in the field artillery.”

Giving the medal as an honorific “is way outside the intended criteria of the award,” adds retired artilleryman Col. Ralph Brown. “It sounds like the award system has broken.”

Something also went awry the day Lee was supposed to receive the award.

Paid an undisclosed to sum to appear at the splashy Lanmark event at Comic-Con, Lee glad-handed with fans, posed for pictures and was given an Army Certificate of Achievement for “your faithful service in the United States Army and your impact on the lives of Americans through your heroes, villains, storylines and tireless work in the world of comics.”

But just as the award ceremony began, Lee disappeared. Handlers say he was feeling tired, but Lee says he had no idea he was supposed to receive another award:

“I didn’t know there was anything special involving me — nobody told me.”