A tap on that shoulder is bringing Gary Sinise and his Lt. Dan Band to Fort Jackson.
The shoulder belongs to Dan Hennigan, founder and chair of the South Carolina 9/11 Memorial. In New York for one of the many remembrance programs he has coordinated between South Carolina and New York since the Twin Towers fell, Hennigan turned around post tap last fall to find a representative of Sinise's production company.
Long story short, Sinise's people talked to Hennigan's people and, eventually, the concert was set.
"I started my conversations with Gary … in the fall of 2014," Hennigan said Tuesday. "By March of this year, I was able to get (Sinise's representatives) to see the value of Gary Sinise coming to Fort Jackson."
That wasn't the first time Hennigan had encountered Sinise.
In October 2010, Hennigan had lent to the Beaufort Naval Air Station three beams from the fallen New York Trade Center -- beams Hennigan intended to use to create a 9/11 memorial in Columbia. In Beaufort for a second time -- the first had been in 1994 to film "Forrest Gump" -- Sinise displayed the beams onstage while his Lt. Dan Band played.
"He's such a huge supporter of our military and our first responders," Hennigan said of Sinise. In fact, when Sinise comes to Columbia this weekend, he will view Columbia's 9/11 memorial and visit patients at the Veterans Administration. Both visits will be outside the view of the media.
Post deputy commander Col. Mark Shade said organizers initially had hoped the Lt. Dan Band could perform for ceremonies honoring Vietnam veterans last spring.
"Unfortunately, we missed the Vietnam vets," Shade said, "but this is the next best thing."
Organizers now view Sinise's appearance as an early kickoff for the post's centennial, which won't be until 2017.
"Gary wasn't 100 percent aware of Fort Jackson and the history behind it" when first approached, Hennigan said. But "what really helped get him (here was the opportunity) to talk to the Soldiers who are going to make up our military in the next 20 or 30 years."
For Sinise -- who has a career in TV and movies, not just being a rock star -- the idea is "not just 'Let's have a concert,'" Hennigan said. "It's all about the military Service members to him."
And he doesn't want to just touch them with his music. Sometimes, he literally wants to touch them -- to hug and congratulate them for their service. To pose for photographs with them. To show them they are his heroes.
Gary Taylor is special-events coordinator for Family, Morale, Welfare and Recreation. He and his crew will set up for the Lt. Dan Band show on Thursday and Friday, using stage, light and sound equipment provided by the sponsoring USO. FMWR will manage seating, concessions and parking.
Setup will be much like it is for any other concert, Taylor said Monday, except that Sinise "doesn't want me to put any barricades in front of the stage (because) he likes to come down off the stage" to speak with audience members.
Sinise named his rock band after the character he played in the film "Forrest Gump." Sinise's character, Lt. Dan Taylor, loses his legs below the knee as the result of a Viet Cong attack. Initially embittered by the loss, Lt. Dan eventually comes to see that his worth as a human being stems from more than his ability to walk.
The role arguably has been Sinise's most popular -- he has said that more people recognize him as Lt. Dan than as Gary Sinise.
The story of Forrest Gump was intended to be an antiwar narrative. Sinise since has rewritten his alter ego into a man who honors veterans, most especially those who have lost limbs in service to their country.
"I wanted to do the story of Lt. Dan because I just knew so many Vietnam veterans," Sinise said during a visit to Fort Belvoir, Virginia, in 2013. "I wanted to tell a positive story about our Vietnam veterans, which Lt. Dan is."
At that visit -- and many others -- those who have lost limbs in war told Sinise their stories of injury and recovery. Sinise also visits hospitalized Soldiers and veterans.
Through his Gary Sinise Foundation, he aids not only wounded warriors but first responders. He has said the events of 9/11 propelled him onto the public stage as an advocate for both groups.
"That's what a celebrity can do," he said at a 2014 appearance before Gold Star families -- "draw attention to certain things.
"There's never enough when it comes to providing support to our Soldiers and veterans. We can always do a little bit more."
For his efforts, Sinise was awarded the Army's Outstanding Civilian Service Medal in 2013.
* The Lt. Dan Band concert will be at 7 p.m. at Hilton Field. It is free to Soldiers, Families, veterans and Department of Defense civilians only.
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