Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 15, 1990 TAG: 9006150804
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Then one fine day, somebody in the Pentagon with silver stars on his shoulders looked around the table and told the men with silver eagles on their shirt collars: Hey, you know, the little guy's funny.
Yes, sir! they all replied, nodding in unison.
And so it was that an incredulous Mort Walker, a cartoonist who once slogged through the mud at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., as an Army draftee in World War II, was ushered into the Pentagon on Thursday and given a hero's welcome.
Walker, who created the Beetle Bailey comic strip in 1950, could hardly believe it. For years, he had braved the Army's fire when Beetle and the gang - Zero, Sgt. Snorkel, Lt. Fuzz, Gen. Halftrack - did something foolish.
On Thursday, he blinked before TV lights in the Pentagon briefing room. Generals slapped him on the back, praised him to the skies and asked for his autograph. One of them gave Walker a framed "Certificate of Appreciation for Patriotic Civilian Service" with a ribbon in red, white and blue.
The war was over.
"I can't believe I'm actually here," Walker said, "As hard as it is to find anything in the Pentagon, they finally found a sense of humor."
"Through it all, you have entertained us, although sometimes we haven't always liked it," said Brig Gen. Bill McClain, the Army's public affairs chief.
McClain confessed that he reads Beetle Bailey "and I laugh at it, and others do, too."
Maj. Gen. Richard Stephenson said, "Beetle Bailey is the vehicle that enables us to see the lighter side of our profession and keeps us from taking ourselves too seriously."
The Army brass wasn't always that charitable. They thought the strip presented an unflattering image of Army life, that Beetle was a poor role model for modern GIs.
The Tokyo edition of The Stars and Stripes military newspaper drummed Beetle off its pages in 1954 because the strip poked fun at officers, although the official explanation was that "Beetle Bailey had a low interest value."
Stars and Stripes banned the strip again in 1970, as did some Southern newspapers, when Walker introduced a feisty black character named Lt. Flap who complained about Sarge's "honky outfit." Feminists protested Miss Buxley, the bosomy secretary to Gen. Halftrack.
All was forgiven Thursday. The citation said Walker's "ingenuity in portraying Army members in a humorous manner has contributed significantly to the morale of our soldiers as they provide for our national security."
McClain, the Army public affairs boss, summed up the situation: "If you can't laugh at yourself, something is intrinsically wrong with you."
by CNB