A Night of Honor

Sometimes, when covering an event, you get what they call swag. Free stuff. If you’re lucky, it’s a meal. At the Iraq Star Benefit hosted Sunday at the Universal City Hilton, I didn’t get any dinner, and then I was reminded of a children’s story. I can’t remember exactly what it’s called, but it’s about Mother Hen and her children. She asks each of them to do some chores, find grain, kneed dough, etc., and they refuse. In the end, she makes bread on her own, and when the chicks want to eat, they’re not allowed because they didn’t do the work. These guys — the men and women who not only risked but gave life and limb — earned their meal Sunday. Suddenly, I did not mind my empty stomach.

A Night of Honor, as it was called, was to honor Gary Sinise. Mr. Sinise is perhaps best-known as Lieutenant Dan, a coarse, broken Nam Vet who eventually succumbs to Forrest’s simple and relentless optimism in Forrest Gump. The intent of the Iraq Star organization is Gump-like. They aim to assist the 40,000 troops who have returned home from Iraq and Afghanistan wounded since the beginning of this decade. That assistance comes in the form of support for reconstructive surgeries and procedures beneficial to overall physical and mental well-being, as well as reintegration to life back home. Essentially, to prevent further Lieutenant Dans. In truth, the night was much more about honoring these men and women than Gary Sinise.

But Sinise was being honored for something different than his potrayal of Forrest’s friend, or his many other popular roles in film and television. Sinise was being honored for his own honoring and efforts on behalf of the vets. A quick Google will yield the many involvements Sinise has had with and in support of the military and veterans. Iraq Star is only one of many organizations Sinise has seen involvement with. I first became aware of Sinise’s involvement when he detailed how he and his band had been on a USO tour playing for the troops, not in Rotterdam or Rammstien, where more squeamish celebs go to play to the troops, but right in the heart of battle in the war on terror, in the deserts of the Middle East.

It’s always good to see anyone doing something for a good cause; it’s always good seeing a celebrity throwing their weight behind one, but it’s always best when you see them do it with the sincerity and tenacity that Sinise does. You can tell he really cares, as we all should.

I’m required to tell you about the celebrity presence at the event. Dr. Phil emceed, Dennis Miller did stand up (although I was not allowed into the main portion of the evening), and everyone else, from Chachi (Scott Baio) to Sabrina the Teenage Witch (Mellisa Joan Hart) to the dude from Grandma’s Boy to Lou Ferrigno were there. Startling revelation? The Hulk wears a hearing aid. Jon Voight was there (I found him to be one of the nicest people I interacted with, actually). Everyone was looking their finest. It was a red, white and blue event. A silent auction for everything from a set of PS3 games to signed sports memorabilia to an American Choppers custom cycle went down. I thought about bidding on something just to be ridiculously outbid by someone rich and famous that probably has a bed and more money than credit card debt, but I don’t really want to talk about the celebrities, or me for that matter.

What really lifted my spirits or got my nerves going at the benefit wasn’t the celebs but the vets. Imagine, if you would, seeing a guy whose face has been nearly burnt off, whose ear is missing, but who’s smiling wider than you. A man with a prosthetic hand geeking out after shaking Lou Ferrigno’s. A woman with one leg getting to walk the red carpet. For one night in Hollywood, those that have always deserved the honoring, the star treatment — yes, that meal too — got it all. And damned if they weren’t like happy kids doing it. I did what I could. I let them cut me in line. I thanked them for their service. But I was a bit saddened when I walked into the bathroom at one point to hear a higher rank telling his lowers, all in uniform, “Enjoy this tonight, because no one’s going to treat you like this again for a while. Don’t get used to this.” But why don’t we? You don’t have to be Gary Sinise to show your support in the smallest of ways, and to those soldiers, you don’t have to have his recognition to be a star. But maybe the soldiers know something about stars — they carry 50 of them and 13 stripes on their backs. I was just happy and flattered to brush shoulders with them.

Find out more about Iraq Star.