Actor and veteran's advocate Gary Sinise told Newsmax Wednesday that six years ago, while commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on the Pearl Harbor Naval Base on Dec. 7, 1941, he met a veteran in a wheelchair who was there the day of the attack; and when he thanked the veteran for what he did during World War II, the veteran told Sinise, "I wish I had done more."
"I reached down to him, and I grabbed his hand, and I said, 'Thank you, sir, for all you have done for our country,'" Sinise said during "Prime News" Wednesday. "And he looked up at me with tears in his eyes and he just goes, 'I wish I could have done more.'"
Sinise, who rose to national prominence for his role as disabled Vietnam veteran Lt. Dan Taylor in the 1994 movie "Forest Gump" with Tom Hanks, followed his role in the film by becoming an advocate for veterans and founding the Gary Sinise Foundation to help military veterans.
"It's just been a great, tremendous, tremendous, privilege to get to know so many of them," he said. "I understand that at this particular anniversary, the 81st, we had a 102-year-old World War II veteran travel to Pearl Harbor. You know, we're losing them rapidly as they age. At the Gary Sinise Foundation, we're doing everything we can to record their stories as much as possible at the national World War II Museum and to allow as many of them as possible to get down there to see the museum for themselves. These are great heroes. It's been just an honor to be able to get to know so many of them. They are heroes, and it's so important to honor them and to remember."
The foundation's website said it creates and supports programs designed to honor veterans, first responders, their families and those in need.
Sinise said the organization just wrapped up its main event of the year: the Snowball Express at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, which has served 12,446 children of fallen veterans since 2018.
"This year we actually upped the number of families from 700 to 800 families, and 1,151 children," he said. "We had over 1,000 hotel rooms. We have volunteers, multiple volunteers, that support this event and have for many years. My band plays every single year for the kids. It's usually the finale. It's our way of wrapping our arms around these children who have lost a parent in military service."
Sinise said that anyone who would like to support the foundation can visit www.garysinisefoundation.org to learn more.
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