Gary Sinise from “Forrest Gump” joins VMI to celebrate Founder’s Day

Lexington, Virginia – The Gary Sinise Foundation is committed to helping American heroes and veterans. On Friday, Sinise himself had his first conversation with the next generation of those heroes as a surprise Founder’s Day event at Virginia Military Institute.

The world first met Lt. Dan Taylor, the tough but eventually wise military guy from the popular movie “Forrest Gump,” thirty years ago.

Lt. Dan made his first post-visit to VMI. However, according to Gary Sinise, who plays the role, Taylor would have been a Keydet himself.

“You give your character a backstory before they enter. Therefore, I concluded that Lt. Dan had graduated from VMI,” Sinise told the Corps.

Corps leadership asked Sinise to be the keynote speaker at Founder’s Day on Friday.

“I’ve had a long-standing desire to attend. And when I received an invitation, I seized the opportunity to attend and address the Corps,” Sinise told WDBJ7.

Ernesto Sampson, president of the VMI Foundation Board of Trustees, stated, “You see him on TV, but to see him in person just brings you to a different level of respect and admiration.”

In honor of one of the Corps’ oldest customs, Sinise enlisted. He joined Superintendent General Major Wins in reviewing the parade and spoke to the cadets.

Sinise explained his speech by saying, “I have a lot of veterans in my family, and I’m going to share a little of that family history and everything and make sure everybody out there knows that I appreciate good leaders and people that have served our country.” “I’m happy to be here and tell them that face-to-face.”

As a public figure and the founder of the Gary Sinise Foundation, Sinise stated that he aims to provide opportunities such as this one. to pay tribute to our warriors and motivate the next generation of leaders.

“One way that I can help is if I can act as a sort of bridge between our citizens, veterans, service members, and first responders and pass on their generosity—the generosity of the people—to them,” Sinise stated.

Sinise claimed that he never really abandoned the role of Lt. Dan. He feels privileged to keep telling that hero’s tale and to express his gratitude to all of our heroes.

“I want the men and women who serve our nation to know that there is someone like me out there who is fighting for them and standing up for them. They are deserving. If no one desired to serve our nation, where would we be? We’d have problems. I am therefore appreciative. I want them to know how appreciative I am as an American for them and our defenders,” Sinise said.