How This Actor’s Role in FORREST GUMP Inspired a Lifetime Serving Vets
By Movieguide® Contributor
Gary Sinise’s role in FORREST GUMP served as the launchpad not only for his acting career but also for his helping millions of U.S. vets and troops across the last 30-odd years.
“I had been involved with Vietnam veterans’ work going back into the mid-’80s, so GUMP was 1993 when I auditioned for it. We started shooting in 1993. Fall of 1993, but prior to that, going back into the mid-’80s, I had been working with Vietnam veterans, and you know so when GUMP came along the opportunity to play a Vietnam veteran, I just really wanted to do it,” Sinise told Andrew Erwin.
“[I] started kind of focusing on trying to support Vietnam veterans back then then I played one in FORREST GUMP,” he said. “That was significant and that led me to [get] a call maybe four weeks after GUMP or something, and it was the DAV. The Disabled American Veterans invited me to their National Convention.”
The DAV gifted him an award for his role as Lieutenant Dan in FORREST GUMP. Seeing around 2,000 disabled soldiers only spurred his desire to help veterans.
“I think there was something like 1.5 million wounded veterans going back to World War II that were a part of the DAV all across the country, and this was their National Convention where all their chapters from all over the country come in, and they’re all represented, and they gave me an award, their National Commanders Award, which I don’t know that they give that out every year, but they wanted to recognize that, you know, a wounded Vietnam veteran was being portrayed in a way that they felt was kind of a positive way. Because if you look at that story, Lieutenant Dan is moving on at the end,” he explained.
“You know, he’s not collapsing and falling apart,” Erwin agreed, “and you kind of breathe life back into his soul and then he kind of when he jumps off the boat and starts swimming, you’re just like he’s free…and that’s a beautiful, beautiful scene.”
Sinise noted that many veterans felt broken when they came home. Sinise’s role as Lieutenant Dan gave them hope, which he carries on through his foundation and performances with his Lt. Dan Band.
“The war had really done some damage obviously, but then coming home to the war at home where the nation was kind of turning its back on our Vietnam veteran, that made it all the worse,” Sinise said. “So a lot of Vietnam veterans just withdrew and… found it difficult to move forward, and that was the way it was being portrayed in a lot of Hollywood movies.”
“If you look at it, you know, how many Vietnam movies can you name — APOCALYPSE NOW, PLATOON, CASUALTIES OF WAR or COMING HOME, you know, one after another and you look at the Vietnam veterans at the ends of those films, and you kind of just shake your head, and you don’t think they’re going to be okay, and you wonder whether they’re going to be okay, you know?” he said.
“THE DEER HUNTER, one of them commits suicide. At the end of COMING HOME, one of them swims out in the ocean and he’s not coming back, you know? I mean you really felt like the Vietnam story was only the story of somebody who couldn’t return and be okay and then along comes FORREST GUMP, right, and Lieutenant Dan goes through all this stuff you know, coming home from Vietnam, he’s bitter.”
Sinise’s character was angry and turned to alcohol. He was going through a lot. But through Tom Hanks’ character, Forrest Gump, he’s able to see God’s love and make peace with him.
“He’s able to move on, and he’s a wealthy businessman at the end of the movie, and we hadn’t seen that story about a veteran,” he said. “…That was a positive story of a Vietnam veteran that we hadn’t seen. So the DAV wanted to recognize that by inviting me to their National Convention and sort of celebrating that, and that was a powerful moment for me to go out onto that stage and look out in that audience.”
“That had a profound effect on me as I went forward, and so I felt like at 9/11 when that happened, I was just sort of teed up to do something more specific and take a broader action to help our deploying troops to Afghanistan and Iraq get through that experience you know,” the actor explained. “I didn’t want them to come home like our Vietnam veterans came home and be spit on.”
After 9/11, Sinise “got aggressive” about supporting America’s troops. He started volunteering with the USO and made his Lt. Dan Band, performing all over the world.
“I started volunteering for all kinds of nonprofits that were out there trying to help our our troops and eventually in 2011 I just founded the Gary Sinise Foundation as an extension of what I’d been doing for years.”
“I’ve played 560 concerts and never made a dime in all those concerts,” he said. “I think the fact that I have band members with me that go back 20 years or more and have stayed with the band just says something about the how the purpose of the mission and how the spirit of the mission is really something that makes sense to everybody and that they enjoy and appreciate and they recognize in me…the only reason I’m there is for the troops.”
Movieguide® previously reported on Sinise’s passion:
Supporting our nation’s heroes is my lifelong mission and I will continue to serve it faithfully,” Sinise shared. “It’s an honor to be recognized and the best part is that I get to, in turn, shine a light and recognize the true heroes who serve our country.”
Last month, Sinise reunited with the DAV convention. This year marked the 18th time he brought his band to play for the wounded troops.
He said, “I can hardly believe it’s been 30 years since I walked into the DAV convention for the first time. Little did I know then how significant that moment, and these people would become in my life. The journey has been nothing short of incredible, and I am humbled every day by the individuals I have had the privilege to meet, work with, and serve.”
In July, Sinise’s foundation had a goal to raise $250,000. The foundation met far beyond its goal with $325,000 in donations. Sinise made a thank you video to share on social media in appreciation of all of the donations and support.
“God bless you all for showing us such wonderful support so that we can help more of our wounded veterans, our families of fallen heroes, and our first responders through the many programs that are possible thanks to your generosity,” he told supporters.
