A military jeep drives over a roadside bomb. The explosion takes arms and legs and scars hearts and minds. It’s not a jeep that gets blown apart but lives. The shock wave ripples through families. It deprives children of their parents and robs parents of a piece of their future.
How do the survivors cope? How do they pick up the pieces and move forward? What about war’s other victims – the people left behind?
In 2011, American actor and director Gary Sinise established the Gary Sinise Foundation to support US veterans and first responders, along with their families. Since its inception, the organization has raised more than $600 million for its programs and services.
Sinise is best known for his role as Lt. Dan Taylor, a disabled Vietnam veteran, in the Academy Award-winning film Forrest Gump, for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. His long list of credits includes Apollo 13, The Green Mile, the HBO biopic Truman, and CSI: NY. Over the course of his career, he has won a Primetime Emmy, a Golden Globe, a Tony Award, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
He has also received numerous honors for his philanthropy and patriotism, including the Presidential Citizens Medal, Honorary Marine by the US Marine Corps, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society Patriot Award, and the Kennedy Center Award for the Human Spirit.
