In recent years, actor Gary Sinise has made himself known for far more than playing Lieutenant Dan in the 1994 classic Forrest Gump .
But it’s clear that this role set him on a powerful path of discovery as his life’s passion now revolves around making life easier for veterans and their families after they’ve suffered life-changing hardships .
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Given his passion for the well-being of veterans and for honoring their sacrifices and accomplishments, we can generally expect his voice to be heard when a moment of military history passes that touches all of our hearts.
And his response to one recent piece of sad news was no exception.
In addition to helping veterans who are still with us, Sinise is known to pay respectful tribute to those who aren’t.
And the past year has seen him do this on multiple occasions, as he’s had to say a final farewell to a wounded Vietnam veteran named Jim Sursely.
He also spoke in support of the effort to retire NFL safety and Army war hero Pat Tillman’s jersey after a visit the USO center dedicated to him in Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan.
But on January 5, he was struck to hear of the loss of Lawrence Brooks, who was the oldest living World War II veteran at 112 years old.
As we’ve previously discussed , he was drafted into the 91st Engineer Division at the age of 31 and — according to People — was honorably discharged as a private first class in 1945.
From there, he worked as a forklift operator until his retirement in 1979.
And as Sinise revealed in a tweet released on the day of Brooks’ passing, he was one of the people who Brooks had made a personal impact on.
As we can see here, that’s because Sinise had the pleasure of meeting Brooks at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans when Brooks was 106 years old.
Before sharing this story, Sinise said , “An American hero passed away this morning.”
As he added, “God bless you sir. An honor to know you. Rest In Peace.”
