Grateful American: A Journey from Self to Service(86)
I sat near the front of the crowd at the dinner, and moments before I took the stage, I lifted my glass ever so slightly in private tribute to Moira’s father. The opening lines of my speech recalled the first time I’d visited the Union League Club, and I could only chuckle at the trajectory of my life from then to now. I held no hard feelings—not to the club, not to the man who became my father-in-law. Back then, so many years ago, he was only concerned for the daughter he loved, like any good father would be. He wanted to see his daughter cherished. He simply wanted any potential son-in-law to make something worthwhile of his life.
A healing power exists within service work. My heart had been broken after that terrible day of September 11, 2001. Fear had crept in as to what the future would hold for our country and for my family. I needed to do something to help assuage that fear, to help heal that broken heart, to stand behind our country with everything I had, and to honor those who had been lost by taking action to remember them.
Inspiration and mentoring are so important in our life’s journey. We can all point to men and women throughout our lives whom we have learned from, and who, by their example, have inspired us to become better people. I can truly say that over the years, the veterans, active-duty service members, first responders, and family members, and the many great Americans I have met along the way who’ve taken up the charge to support them, have done that for me. I have been motivated and inspired by so many who have devoted their lives to service and volunteerism, and I have tried to do a little more by taking action.
And I have found that the more I served, the more I knew that this calling was just, and true, and right and that this healing power was giving me new strength to continue to carry on. Eventually, everything came together, pushing me to create an initiative of my own—one that would eclipse everything else I’d ever done.
CHAPTER 16
The Gary Sinise Foundation
For a moment I thought it was a joke. Early one morning in October 2008, I was puffing away on my treadmill at home when my cell phone rang. A voice said that the president wanted me to come to the White House in December to receive the Presidential Citizens Medal, the second-highest civilian award in the United States and one that recognizes people for exemplary acts of service for the country.
I’d been to the White House and met President Bush a few times before. In 2004, I introduced six Medal of Honor recipients at a July 4 celebration at Ford’s Theater, which the president attended. And I’d spoken at the presidential inauguration in 2005. That experience was wild. Ryan Seacrest emceed with many other entertainers performing. My job was to introduce Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and some of the other Apollo astronauts in a special salute to America’s space program. The day was freezing cold, and as soon as I walked out, I glanced over and saw President and Laura Bush sitting to my right. I then looked straight ahead at the teleprompter and everything went blurry. Thanks to the subzero temperatures, my contact lenses had started to frost over. I panicked. Holy cow—this is live TV. There’s a massive crowd out there, and I can’t see the prompter. Luckily, I knew the astronauts I was supposed to present, so I cleared my throat, ad-libbed a few lines, and jumped to the introductions.
In 2006, after we’d started Operation Iraqi Children, the president had invited me to a meeting at the White House along with leaders from other nonprofit organizations that support our troops. Officials from the Department of Defense were working on an initiative called “America Supports You.” Basically, they had created a big database and website that listed many organizations that supported the troops—and they wanted the troops to know about it. Later, the Lt. Dan Band played twice at the Pentagon for the America Supports You initiative. At one of the shows, Donald Rumsfeld danced in the front row.
And on Veterans Day 2006, President Bush delivered remarks at the annual wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I emceed the event, introducing many of the distinguished veterans present and speaking about the dedication and service of veterans and active-duty military personnel.
I was honored to have been asked to do all these things. But this was something completely different. I was being asked to come to our nation’s capital again, this time to receive the Presidential Citizens Medal. I never expected this kind of honor. The rewards of my mission are the smiling faces of service members and their families. They’re the ones in the spotlight. Yet here I was, on the phone with a White House representative who was saying I could bring family members to the ceremony. I stammered my thanks and hung up. On December 10, 2008, I brought Moira, our children, and my parents, along with several other family members, to the White House. There were thirteen of us in all. We stood outside the Oval Office. The door opened, and President Bush said heartily, “Come on in, Gary.” The citation was read. We took some pictures and chatted with the president. The entire ceremony lasted maybe ten minutes. Not long. But it was the honor of a lifetime.
The busy pace started to catch up with me toward the end of that long “call to action” season. From 2003 to 2010, I kept volunteering more and more, helping many different organizations and charities anywhere I could. I performed regularly with the Lt. Dan Band at concerts overseas and around the country while I was working full-time on CSI: NY. My family had never complained that I stayed away too much. They understood the sacrifices military families must make, and they saw one of their roles in this mission as giving up some time with me. Moira especially saw it this way. With Vietnam vets in her family, she knew and understood the importance of what I was trying to do for our service members, and she was behind it 100 percent. But I’d been away a lot, and as much as she kept supporting me, I knew it was tough on her. Still, while the pace was beginning to wear on me and my family, I could also see the support effort was doing some good for these military and first-responder families, so I kept at it.