Asepermy honored into Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame

NORMAN — A Comanche warrior with a history of service to his country and his people was inducted into the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame last week along with 11 other Oklahomans.

Lanny Asepermy, 78, was honored Oct. 26 during the 25th Annual Banquet and Induction Ceremony at the Embassy Suites in Norman. He has provided 54 years of military and civil service to the Republic and state of Oklahoma.

Asepermy was one of two recipients of the Major General Douglas O. Dollar award. The award is presented to “distinguished individuals for their service to veterans; supporting community activities that strengthen the quality of life for members of that community and for citizenship setting the example for other citizens bringing credit to the uniformed services. This award may be given to an individual that may not have served in the armed forces of the uniform service. This individual selection is not based upon valor as is the other selects.”

Born in Iola, Kans., and raised in Apache, Asepermy is a citizen of the Comanche Nation and his grandparents are full-blood Comanche and Kiowa Indians. He served in the Army for 24 years, from 1966-1990, during which he served in Vietnam from 1969-1970 where he participated in four campaigns, and earned the Combat Infantry Badge.

Following retirement, Asepermy has dedicated his life to supporting tribal veterans affairs and promoting Native American military heritage. He was an active member of the Comanche War Scouts and Comanche Indian Veterans Association (CIVA) for 30 years (1992-2022) and during this time he: established the Comanche War Scout Circle of Honor with individual dyes of the 13 Fallen Warriors and five Prisoners of War of the Comanche Nation. He also upgraded the CIVA Court of Honor which lists the names, rank, branch, and years of service of 1,293 Comanche Veterans.

Asepermy also established the Tahsequah Garden in honor of the only Comanche Veteran missing in action, and the Comanche Veterans Patriot Room which contains 800 photos and biographies of Comanche veterans.

In his hometown of Apache, Asepermy helped create the Veterans Memorial Park Park which honors 28 who died as a result of war; seven who were POW’s; and 645 veterans, all from Apache.

Along with providing the protocol for the War Scout and CIVA Color Guard who fulfilled over 1,900 commitments, Asepermy supported over 300 funeral service, and provided placement of 300 military marker of Native veterans.

As a longtime ambassador/volunteer with the Oklahoma Military Heritage Foundation, Asepermy was the nominator responsible for the induction into the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame of the World War I and II Code Talkers from the Comanche, Choctaw, and Pawnee Nations.

The Dollar award was established in 2006 and 22 Oklahomans have earned that honor. In all 247 individuals and nine groups/organizations have been inducted into the OKMHOF since 1999. There are 665,000 veterans from Oklahoma.

Asepermy joins Comanche Nation Hall of Fame inductees Charles Chibitty in 2001, George Red Elk in 2011, the Comanche Code Talkers that served in Europe during WWII also in 2011, Cloyce “Chuck” Choney in 2020 and Edwin Chappabitty in 2023 and Kiowa inductees Vernon Tsoodle in 2007, Pascal Cletus Poolaw in 2008 and Robert “Corkey” Poolaw in 2016.

Attendance for the event was 573 including 112 Asepermy supporters.

In addition, Asepermy, coordinated the posting, presentation and retirement of the Colors with Color/Honor Guards from the Comanche, Kiowa, Cherokee, Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations and the signing of the National Anthem by the Comanche Nation Princess, Comanche Nation Junior Princess, CIVA Princess and a Kiowa Tribal member.

This was a first for the event in having five American Indian Color/Honor Guards and four signers.