"Forrest Gump" star Gary Sinise on Christmas Day reflected about the work his foundation has done over the past 12 years to serve the men and women who serve in the U.S. military and said it's important to remember and honor their work to keep the nation free.
"We could never take that for granted," Sinise told Fox News's "Sunday Morning Futures" host Maria Bartiromo. "We could never take that for granted. Freedom has to be fought for, there is a price to pay and people are willing to pay it. I benefit from that personally and I want to do everything that I can to support them."
The Gary Sinise Foundation is now in its 12th year, and Sinise on Sunday said he started it because of the veterans in his family and after playing the character "Lieutenant Dan" in Forrest Gump.
"I really got involved having started working with multiple nonprofits around the country and trying to raise money for them and support them in different ways and the programs that they were supporting," he said. "We support first responders, military personnel, veterans, Gold Star families, our wounded and we build homes for wounded warriors. There are multiple programs at the Gary Sinise Foundation and it's all to remember and honor and serve the men and women who keep us free."
Earlier this month, the foundation held its first in-person "Snowball Express," which allowed nearly 2,000 family members of fallen military heroes to gather at Walt Disney World, reports Fox News.
Sunday, he recalled auditioning for his famous movie role, said that having worked with Vietnam veterans and supporting them over the years in Chicago, the role took on a "special significance" for him.
"I was in high school in 1973 at the end of combat operations in Vietnam," said Sinise. "I met the woman who would become my wife about four years later and she introduced me to her brothers. They served in Vietnam, her sister's husband and I were very involved with trying to support Vietnam veterans back then and then this opportunity came along to play the wounded soldier, the Vietnam veteran lieutenant Dan Taylor."
Sinise said that started him on a mission to be sure other veterans weren't forgotten or mistreated, and that "manifested itself into a full-time nonstop mission."
The foundation is also involved in the program "Soaring Valor," a partnership with the National World War II museum in New Orleans and American Airlines.
"We have [flown] hundreds of World War II veterans down to New Orleans to see the museum for themselves," he said. "It was inspired by my Uncle Jack who served on a B-17 in World War II, in 30 missions over Europe. I took him to the museum when he was still alive, and when he passed away I created this program at the Gary Sinise Foundation to make sure as many World War II veterans, while we still have them, as possible, can go to the World War II Museum and see it for themselves. We record their stories on video and preserve them in the archives so we can never forget what our World War II veterans did for us. All of us live free today because of what they did all those years ago."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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