Educator amends story on war record

A man who will receive a Huntsman Award for Excellence in Education and $10,000 on Friday says he was not a Navy SEAL, as stated in nomination and endorsement letters.

Arthur D. Lujan, assistant principal at Salt Lake City's Backman Elementary School, was a chief petty officer in the Navy, he said Wednesday. He served in Vietnam but was not wounded in combat and has not received a Purple Heart, contrary to information in a nomination letter.

"I'm saying I'm retired (from the) military, Navy, 20 years, (a) disabled American veteran, and that's it," Lujan said.

The disclosure does not change Lujan's award status.

"Mr. Lujan worked with the Huntsman Awards for Excellence in Education chairman and judges in drafting the text of his bio, and he had not mentioned to us that certain details of his service record as stated in the nomination letters were inaccurate," a spokesperson for the Huntsman awards committee said in a prepared statement. "We did submit to the newspapers what we understood to be a truthful representation of his background."

"Be that as it may, the fact is that the basis of the award is Mr. Lujan's tremendous contribution to the children at Backman Elementary School. The need to correct statements about his military record in no way affects our decision to present an award to Mr. Lujan. We look forward to honoring him along with the other 10 award recipients on Friday evening."

The Deseret Morning News on Tuesday published vignettes of Huntsman award winners, which include six teachers, three administrators and two volunteers.

The honorees, announced by the family of philanthropist and billionaire industrialist Jon and Karen Huntsman, are chosen by a panel of Utah education and business leaders based on community nomination and endorsement letters.

The Deseret Morning News wrote the vignettes based on the letters of nomination.

Two of the three letters provided about Lujan state he was a Navy SEAL, and Backman principal Fern Wilkerson said Lujan received two Purple Hearts. The information was cited in the article.

The awards announcement given to media also included write ups of all award winners. Lujan's original write up contained the SEAL information, but a following amended announcement, attributed to Lujan's request to not appear pretentious, deleted mention of the Navy SEAL and Purple Heart awards.

Late Tuesday, a group called VeriSEAL, which confirms Navy SEAL credentials and lists names of people it says masquerade as SEALs according to its Web site, contacted the Deseret Morning News to challenge Lujan's Navy SEAL credentials.

When asked to verify the credential, Lujan told the newspaper that he was neither a Navy SEAL nor a Purple Heart recipient.