Gary Sinise Foundation

Gary Sinise's distinguished career in the arts and tireless advocacy for service members has spanned over four decades, marked by notable achievements and heartfelt dedication. Co-founding the Steppenwolf Theatre Company at 18, Sinise later solidified his reputation with his portrayal of Lt. Dan Taylor in the film Forrest Gump, earning him several awards and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. His filmography includes roles in Apollo 13, Ransom, and The Green Mile as well as starring roles in television, where he won Emmy and Golden Globe awards for his roles in Truman and George Wallace and captivated audiences for nine seasons as Detective "Mac" Taylor in CSI: NY.

Sinise's advocacy began with support for Vietnam veterans and expanded significantly after the attacks of 9/11. From entertaining troops with his Lt. Dan Band to fundraising for various memorials, his commitment to veterans and first responders has never wavered. Establishing the Gary Sinise Foundation in 2011, he furthered his mission to serve and honor America's defenders and their families. His humanitarian efforts have been recognized with numerous awards, including the Presidential Citizens Medal. He is only the third actor ever to receive this honor.

Sinise's legacy continues through his foundational work and the bestselling memoir Grateful American: A Journey from Self to Service.

It was 1971 and I was a sophomore at a new school. The country was going through a crazy time with kids doing all sorts of stupid and dangerous stuff, and I was no exception. My academics weren’t great and I was constantly in trouble with the police, my parents, or both. I was headed down a dark path. At this new school, all I wanted to do was play guitar in a band and fit in. Some guys and I were sitting in the hallway one morning when Mrs. Barbara Patterson walked by and changed the course of my life forever.

Mrs. Patterson was the theatre teacher. She looked at us and said, “I’m directing West Side Story and you guys all look like you could play gang members. Come audition.” Of course, we tried to play cool and blow it off until we saw a long line of girls headed to audition. That’s all we needed to see. The audition was packed, and I didn’t know anything about acting. Still, the next morning, the casting list was posted and there near the bottom was my name. I was cast as a gang member, a Shark. We practiced for five weeks and gave four incredible performances. And along the way, something in me really changed. I had new friends, I was moving forward in a good direction.

My life of purpose had begun.

The Early Days of Steppenwolf Theatre

From then on, I was in every school play and studied everything I could about theatre. When it was time to graduate, I knew college wasn’t in the cards for me, so some buddies and I decided to put on more plays while working side jobs to pay the bills. In trying to come up with a name for our group, one friend held up the Hermann Hesse novel he was reading called Steppenwolf and that’s how the Steppenwolf Theatre Company was born. Steppenwolf was more than just the launching point for my professional career, it’s also where I met my future wife, Moira Harris.

I first saw Moira when she played Maggie in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” With her blue eyes and long brown hair, she was riveting. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. After five years of dating, we got married. It was through her family that I met the veterans who gave me a personal education on how bravely our country’s Vietnam veterans had fought and how poorly they were treated when they returned home. Her brother-in-law, Jack, told me how he’d been so happy to be coming home from war before landing in San Francisco and seeing the protests. He went to the bathroom and changed into civilian clothes for fear of being spit on or screamed at. He was only 20 years old. Moira’s brother, Arthur, came back from Vietnam a changed man. He married, but he struggled with life after combat and drank more and more, eventually becoming estranged from his wife and daughters. Her oldest brother, Mac, was a highly decorated officer who taught at West Point after returning from Vietnam. He eventually was promoted to lieutenant colonel because of his extensive knowledge, experience and army-wide reputation as the authority on leadership. I learned so much about the Vietnam experience from Jack, Arthur and Mac. I came to see how our country had turned its back on the returning warriors and how that war still divided us.

It was a shameful period in our nation’s history, and many Vietnam veterans had simply disappeared into the shadows. I wanted to tell their stories.

The Vietnam War and “Tracers”

It was 1981, barely six years since the final withdrawal from Saigon. As a result of the new perspective I was gaining about the Vietnam experience, I looked for a play to direct about Vietnam. I saw an ad for a play called Tracers, which was written and performed by Vietnam veterans about their experiences before, during, and after the war.

I flew to Los Angeles to see the play and saw it twice. It was foulmouthed and blunt, darkly hilarious and grim, but powerful. I sent the director a letter pleading with him to let us perform Tracers at Steppenwolf, so more people could see and understand the terrible burden our Vietnam vets were forced to carry. At first he said no, that only veterans could perform it, but once he understood how serious we were about performing Tracers with authenticity and respect, he agreed. I asked my brother-in-law, Mac, what he thought about our putting on the play. He liked the idea and informed me about certain details I needed to make sure I got right. Not long after, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and died two months later in October 1983 at the age of thirty-nine. We were all devastated. There was a somber military funeral, complete with a twenty-one-gun salute. I have never forgotten it, and it galvanized my commitment to do this play right, in honor of Mac and all Vietnam veterans.

The play begins with a Vietnam veteran in a bar. People are asking him to describe his experiences. “What was it like? Did you kill anyone?” The veteran loses it and things spiral from there. The audience was hooked from moment one. We performed to standing ovations and decided to add a free Tuesday performance for veterans.  At first, veterans were skeptical that we could re-create anything that represented their experiences, but soon word got out to the veteran community and our Tuesday crowds grew bigger and bigger. At the end of each show, vets swarmed the stage to shake hands and hug us actors. Their stamp of approval felt life changing.

For the first time, I felt like I was giving back by honoring our veterans and making sure they were appreciated and not forgotten.

Lt. Dan: The Role That Changed Everything

In early September 1993, I arrived in Beaufort, South Carolina, to begin filming a movie where I would play a wounded Vietnam veteran. It was a role I really wanted due to the work I’d done in the 1980’s with Vietnam vets, in addition to my close connection with the Vietnam vets in my family.

The movie was called Forrest Gump and I would be playing the role of Lieutenant Dan Taylor. I’d pictured Lieutenant Dan much like my brother-in-law Mac Harris. Both were focused tightly on their military careers and both wanted to be the best platoon leaders they could be. Like so many Vietnam veterans, Lieutenant Dan starts out strong, confident and healthy, but after suffering the brutalities of war, he descends into alcoholism and despair when he returns home to an angry nation that shuns him.

Forrest Gump came out on July 6, 1994 and was an instant box-office hit. Suddenly, I’d be out and people would recognize me and yell, “Hey Lieutenant Dan!” They didn’t know my name, but they recognized me. Shortly after the release, I was invited to the national convention of the Disabled American Veterans (DAV), an organization whose motto is “Fulfilling our promises to the men and women who served.” They wanted to present me with an award for “an honest portrayal of a catastrophically injured veteran who served his country.” I’d only met disabled veterans one or two at a time before. Event organizers told me more than 2500 disabled veterans were waiting for me, and I don’t really know what to expect.

When I walked out to greet the veterans, they were clapping, cheering wildly, calling my name. I was stunned, humbled. These were the real-life Lieutenant Dans, and I was just an actor. The lump in my throat wouldn’t go away. I was given an award that says, “Your superb performance brought awareness of the lifelong sacrifice of the disabled veteran back into the public consciousness in a remarkably positive way.”

Lieutenant Dan had become more than just a character in a movie. He had become a symbol for all veterans who live with the visible and invisible wounds of war.

9/11: My Turning Point

September 11th, 2001. Every American alive then remembers that moment and can answer the inevitable question: Where were you when you first hear the news? I stared at the television in shock and disbelief - along with the entire country, as we watched smoke pour from the twin towers of the World Trade Center. We watched on live TV as people leapt to their deaths from the top floors. Then another report that a third airplane had crashed into the Pentagon. About twenty minutes later, a fourth airplane crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. We later learned it was United Flight 93, seemingly bound for the White House, until the passengers courageously chose to take back the plane.

That terrible day left our entire nation in mourning. As we processed our collective trauma and grief, impromptu candlelight vigils were held all across the country. On Friday, September 14, there was a National Day of Prayer and Remembrance for the victims of the attack and that day, after returning from church, my family joined a vigil right down the street. Before we left, I grabbed our American flag from its holder and carried it with me. So many broken hearts, everyone trying to process what had happened, and standing on the corner our large group held their candles as we all sang our National Anthem and God Bless America. Singing through my tears, I raised the flag high.

The attacks of 9/11 set off a powerful surge of patriotism and military enlistment along with a renewed devotion to the first responders in our communities who rush into danger to protect our safety and security. I wondered what I could possibly do to support my country during this terrible time.

Early USO Tours & Forming the Lt. Dan Band

In the early months of 2003, after US troops invaded Iraq, I realized like never before the cost of freedom, and I knew freedom needed to be defended. I wanted to use my good fortune to help this great country, so I called the USO and asked if I could go on a USO tour.

Soon I was on a plane to Landstuhl, Germany - a military hospital. The vets I was set to meet this day would be fresh off the battlefield, their injuries raw, many still fighting for their lives. We walked to a big, open room full of wounded service members. All was quiet at first. Somber. I could smell the antiseptic. The silence felt uneasy, awkward.

Just then, one of the wounded soldiers looked up. He looked straight into my face, broke out in a big grin, and exclaimed, “Lieutenant Dan!”

A dam broke. The other guys all looked at me and roused themselves. The ones who could walk crowded around me, and the whole mood in the room changed. Soldier after soldier introduced himself. They asked me questions about Forrest Gump, and I told them funny stories.

Maybe half an hour passed. Not long. But when I left that room, I couldn’t help but notice how the mood in the room felt different. Now there was laughter. Joy. And I knew a change had occurred in me too. This first room of banged-up service members had forced me to get outside of myself. They’d helped me focus on who I was truly there for - them, not me.

I went on several handshake tours with the USO, and when I saw how the military crowds responded to the musicians from home, like Kid Rock and Chris Isaak, I started wondering if I could pull some musicians together and play for them, too. We started with a small concert in Chicago, and soon the USO was sending us all around the country and the world to play for our military. We named ourselves “Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band” and focused on covering songs that people like to sing and dance to.

From 2003 to 2010, I kept volunteering more and more, helping many different organizations and charities anywhere I could. I performed with the Lt. Dan Band at concerts overseas and around the country while I was working full-time on CSI: NY. The pace was hard on me and my family, but I could also see the support effort was doing some good for these military and first-responder families, so I kept at it.

Launching the Gary Sinise Foundation

By 2010, I had a decision to make. I would either ramp up this mission of service to veterans, first responders and their families, or I would pull back. I had 35 concerts and additional events in support of our troops planned for that year alone. I wondered how long I could keep up this pace. Would I be able to continue like this, or would I burn out?

For over 25 years, I had been supporting many initiatives and nonprofits and I had learned a great deal about many different areas of need. I thought about the sacrifices of so many who keep our country free and safe. I thought about our veterans struggling with post-traumatic stress, our most severely wounded service members who feel lost and incomplete, and those still serving who continue to face dangerous situations around the world. I thought about the grieving families and children of our fallen, and all the moments they would feel the loss and heartbreak alone. I thought of the first responders who run towards danger for their fellow citizens, and the toll it takes on them.

I knew the American people wanted to support quality projects that honor the heroes who serve and sacrifice in so many selfless and extraordinary ways, but they just didn’t know where to begin. I knew could do more if I could consolidate my efforts under one umbrella. I could build a bigger team and delegate more responsibilities so I could do even more while spending a bit more time with my family.

On June 30, 2011, at an event at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, we announced the launch of the Gary Sinise Foundation. In the years since, we’ve helped thousands of our nation’s heroes and their families in their time of need. I encourage you to read more about the Foundation’s rich history, the astonishing personal stories of our heroes, and the critical outreach efforts we make every day serve them.

Most of all, I hope you’ll join me in this important mission. We’ve only just begun.

I’m a Grateful American.

Ronald Reagan once said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.”

I am thankful for the many inspirational individuals and friends I have met over the years who have helped me and supported me. I am grateful for my loving family and for the fact that we have overcome the many challenges faced along the way and are stronger for it.

For those who have sacrificed for me, for those who have inspired me, for those who have supported me in the many endeavors over the years, I hope to continue to make the most of that support, that inspiration, and that sacrifice for as long as I live. I want to lead a good life, not just for myself, but also for my fellow man. A life of service, to try to make the world a better place. America has given me this opportunity, and for that, I will always be grateful.

More about Gary Sinise

• GarySinise.com
• Gary’s filmography on IMDB
• LtDanBand.com

Excerpted from Grateful American: A Journey from Self to Service