Gary Sinise performs for veterans with the Lt. Dan Band in Newport

Gary Sinise before performing in Newport with the Lt. Dan Band.

In 1994, Forrest Gump was released. The now iconic film followed the life of its title character as he found himself in one transformative situation after another. One of those situations was enlisting in the U.S. Army and serving in the Vietnam War, where he meets Lieutenant Dan Taylor. Gary Sinise, who portrayed Lt. Dan, has long been a supporter of veterans, making his role in the film that much more important. In the years since the film Sinise has made multiple trips to military bases across the country and world, signing autographs and taking photos with veterans and active-duty members and even starting a band called the Lt. Dan Band, which performs concerts at military bases. Sinise also founded the Gary Sinise Foundation, an organization that helps veterans, first responders and their families through programs and donations. Recently, Sinise and the band completed their goal of performing in all 50 states, with Rhode Island being their 50^th. The band performed in Kay Hall on the Navy base in Newport this past Sunday, welcoming those on the base as well as veterans a chance to jam out to beloved covers and music written by Sinise’s late son Mac, who passed away two years ago. We sat down with Sinise to talk about the band, what Lt. Dan means to the veterans he’s met and how he finds silver linings in his everyday life.

The band has been around since 2003. What inspired you then to create the band and what inspires you now to keep going with it?

I used to play music as a kid. I played all the way up until my early 20’s and then I got busy with acting and me and my buddy started a theater company in Chicago, so we were busy with that. I just didn’t play much through the 80’s. Then I started supporting Vietnam veterans in the 80s because my wife’s two brothers had served in Vietnam. So, I started supporting different Vietnam veteran groups in Chicago and then I played Lieutenant Dan in Forrest Gump. After September 11^th I started visiting our troops you know in Iraq and Afghanistan. I did some tours where there were also musicians on the tours and I played with some of them for fun. I did a bunch of these tours where I was just shaking hand and taking pictures and I kept telling them that I want to go on tour and bring my musician pals and they finally let me do that. Eventually the USO set up a tour, and I got to bring my musician pals, and I called it the Lt. Dan Band. 2004 was our first overseas tour and I loved it so much I wanted to do it again. I kept volunteering to go out and do it again and the band just got better and better. When I got on CSI New York, I couldn’t go overseas as much because I was shooting television, but I could go on weekends. So we started doing a lot of domestic tours and domestic shows and it just grew and grew. Now we’ve done hundreds of shows.

And now this is your 50^th state you’ve performed in. Was Rhode Island being the 50^th state intentional?

On this particular tour that I’m on right now, I looked at the calendar last year and said geez we’ve almost played in all 50 states. The ones we hadn’t played were New Hampshire, Vermont and Rhode Island. So, we called up some bases and found out who the leadership was at the different bases in those three states, and we sponsored the whole thing.

Had you been to Rhode Island before or is this your first time?

You know, I have a feeling I have been here but I’m trying to search my memory because I’ve been to so many places. I feel like I’ve been to Providence while doing an event or something. I’d have to search, but never here in Newport at the Navy base.

Like you said, you had been working with veterans for a while before you got the role of Lieutenant Dan. You had mentioned in a previous interview that you wish that all veterans could relate to the happy ending that he got in the movie. Would you have still taken the roll had he not gotten a happy ending?

I would have taken the role because it was such a good movie, but I love the story of Lt. Dan because of the ending. If you look at a lot of movies that were made about the Vietnam era and the veteran experience, you just didn’t ever think the Vietnam veteran was going to be okay in the end. Let’s take Platoon for example. So, Platoon, Charlie Sheen is in the air, on the helicopter and he’s crying looking down at a bunch of dead friends laying on the ground down there and you know he’s going to be in trouble. The end of Deer Hunter you’re just wondering if Chris Walken’s character takes his own life and you wonder if those Vietnam veterans are going to be okay. Then along came Forrest Gump in the 90’s. Lt. Dan has a completely different experience than what we’ve seen. He goes through all the anguish and despair, but he’s okay in the end. He’s standing up and he’s moving on and he’s successful in business. That was a story of Vietnam veterans that we really hadn’t heard. There were a lot of guys that came home and struggled but then there were others that were able to kind of process their war years and kind of separate them a little bit and move into something positive. We hadn’t seen that story before so I love that happy ending for Lt. Dan, and I only wish everyone would get an ending like that.

You really have been to so many bases and met so many veterans. What is one thing that they continuously tell you is relatable about Lt. Dan?  

A lot of the Vietnam veterans really thought that the way the battle scenes were depicted were very much representative of what a lot of people actually went through. A veteran who’s been to combat can look at a movie and identify when something’s fake, but I’ve met a lot of people that have been in combat and thought those scenes were really well done. I always feel good about that and good that I was in a movie that veteran’s thought was an honest portrayal. I have a lot of Vietnam veterans in my family on my wife’s side so I just wanted to do something that they would think was believable and honest.

You mentioned when you were talking with Anderson Cooper that we’re all battling something and to look for the silver linings. I’m curious, what are some of your silver linings?

Well, today I’m here to help. I just want the men and women who serve our country to know that they’re supported, appreciated and not forgotten. The people here go about their business, do their jobs, come home and then get deployed or whatever it is. They should know that there are people in other parts of the country that know they’re doing that and that appreciate what they’re doing. It makes me feel good that I can do that; that I have the ability to do that, so that’s a silver lining. I’ve had a blessed career, another silver lining. My family has gone through a lot of difficult things but yet there are still many lessons. There are times where you feel lost and kind of alone and you don’t know how you’re going to get through something. Then I get on stage and I put on my bass guitar and see a lot of smiling folks out there and it gives life great purpose to be able to do something helpful.

To find more information about and to donate to The Gary Sinise Foundation, visit their website here.