Actor Gary Sinise told Newsmax that portraying Lt. Dan in the "Forrest Gump" movie literally changed his life.
Sinise made his comments Friday during an interview on "Wake Up America." In the hit movie from 1994, Sinise's character, Lt. Dan Taylor, lost both his legs during the Vietnam War.
"Little did I know that at that time once the movie came out, I would be introduced to the Disabled American Veterans Organization, which represents at that time about 1.5 million wounded veterans," he said. "Now, it's over 2 million wounded veterans that they represent and advocate for.
"And I was introduced to that organization back then. That really started me working with our wounded and then after September 11th came along, we started having a new generation of wounded coming back from Afghanistan and Iraq.
"I just wanted to do something to support them. So I started visiting them in hospitals, and supporting organizations that were working with them, and trying to help them, and that all kind of manifested itself into the eventual creation of my own military and first responders support foundation, the Gary Sinise Foundation, which I launched in 2011. We're in our 13th year now, and we're going strong.
To honor wounded veterans on Veterans Day, 80 wounded vets are being flown into Las Vegas for a concert by Sinise's band, The Lt. Dan Band. There will also be a giveaway of a house to one of the wounded veterans.
"There's always been a lot going on for Veterans Day," he said. "We have an annual event that we've been doing in Las Vegas called "Salute to the Troops." I do it in partnership with American Airlines. We have over 80 wounded coming into Las Vegas for a three- or four-day event, and my band always plays for them. I've been doing this for many, many years now."
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Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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