Gary Sinise Continues Incredible Dedication to US Military with Free Concert to Honor the Troops
Gary Sinise may have missed out on that “Person of the Year” award from Time (in fact, we suspect he wasn’t even in the running), but he continues to be one of our favorite celebrities — not just for what he does on screen, but even more so for what he does off of it.
According to First Coast News, Sinise and his Lt. Dan Band gave a free concert at the Naval Air Station Jacksonville down in Florida on Friday in order to honor the troops.
Rock isn’t exactly Sinise’s main gig, but his band — named after his character in “Forrest Gump,” of course — has been around for over 15 years, and its raison d’être has been entertaining our nation’s troops.
“In 2003, following one of his many trips overseas to visit those serving our country that year, Gary asked the USO if they would allow him to take a band with him on a tour. He wanted to entertain in the spirit of the Bob Hope tours in years past. As he had already gone on several handshake tours, the USO agreed,” the band’s website reads.
“The band was pulled together, began rehearsing, and in February of 2004, Gary Sinise and The Lieutenant Dan Band hit the road on their first overseas USO tour to Korea, Singapore and Diego Garcia…. Gary and the band have played an average of 30-40 shows per year with a good 95% of those shows for USO, military charities, resiliency events or benefits.”
Here’s the band’s cover of “Purple Haze,” performed on Okinawa in 2009:
As Sinise told his audience in the video, the band has been to installations around the world, entertaining the American armed forces who protect freedom around the world. That spirit is what brought the actor and some other musicians to Jacksonville, he told First Coast News during an interview Friday.
“I could be five feet away from a North Korean guard, and that person has no concept of what freedom is at all,” Sinise said.
“He’s there to serve at the pleasure of the dictator, and the people in the South have been free all those years because it was fought for and it’s been protected by the United States of America.”
And while Sinise is currently promoting a book, it’s not like this isn’t something he wouldn’t be doing otherwise.If there’s one thing that he’s known for nowadays, it’s his dedication to the troops.
In fact, in honor of the book’s release, a video featuring stars thanking Sinise for his work with veterans — including luminaries like Jay Leno, Tom Hanks, Ron Howard, Colin Powell, Mayim Bialik, Tim Allen and others — has managed to get some level of viral traction.
That was enough to bring Sinise to tears.
So, he didn’t win that “Person of the Year” award.
There’s always 2019. After that, however, I’m just going to assume it’s being rigged.
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