Admin l Thursday, Marxh 23, 2017
ARLINGTON, United States – Nollywod actor, Garry Sinise has been honoured with the Spirit of Hope Award. He given the award by USO Metro and Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at a gala night in the United States.
Sinise was honored for his tireless efforts to meet and entertain troops around the world with his Lt. Dan Band, named for the military character he played in the 1994 movie “Forrest Gump.” In presenting the Spirit of Hope Award to Sinise, who stars in the current TV series “CSI: New York,” Dunford spoke about a visit he and his wife made to a military hospital Balboa, California.
“It was a quiet Saturday morning, and as we were walking through the ward, there was a little bit of a hubbub in front of us,” he said. “As we walked up, there was Gary Sinise. There wasn’t any cameras rolling, there wasn’t any media covering anything. It was a Saturday, and Gary Sinise was there to entertain troops at Camp Pendleton. But before that, he had a personal interaction with each one of the troops and each of the families, and you could tell when he left the room that they knew this was somebody who, in his heart, actually, genuinely cared.
“For all the things he’s done, I think what I am most appreciative of is that Gary cares for the people that I call my family,” the chairman added.
Sinise was characteristically modest in accepting the award — the first time an individual has received USO-Metro’s highest award, which is named after legendary USO supporter Bob Hope.
“When I first started doing this, no one knew my name, but they had all seen the movie so they called me Lieutenant Dan,” he said. “My first visit to Bethesda-Walter Reed was on Sept. 11, 2003. It was a tough time. … We were losing way too many troops, there were way too many Gold Star families, way too many wounded. I just wanted to do something.”
His iconic “Forrest Gump” role as an Army lieutenant who lost both legs in combat in Vietnam was something far too many American service members could identify with. “After Sept. 11, we had a whole new generation of Lieutenant Dans coming home,” he said. “There was a role for me to play. Who would have thought that playing a role in a movie could actually mean something?”
When he visited the wounded, Sinise said, they would ask about Lieutenant Dan and he would talk about the character’s resilience in moving forward, and overcoming his injuries and succeeding in life. “That story of Lieutenant Dan seemed to mean something to others,” he added. “It was greater than just me playing a part.”
