Beyond Lt. Dan: Gary Sinise Reflects on Grief, Gratitude, and a Life of Giving

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This is the 30 minute TV version of Jan Jekielek’s interview with Gary Sinise. The longer-form version was released on Epoch TV on May 24, 2025.

🔴 Watch the extended version of this episode: https://ept.ms/Y0524GarySinise

“Service … it’s a great healer for a broken heart. It helped me a lot through our fight for our son, and the difficulties and the challenges of fighting for him and then losing him,” says Gary Sinise.

An Emmy Award-winning actor, producer, director, and musician, Sinise has dedicated his life to supporting America’s active-duty military, veterans, first responders, and their families.

The Gary Sinise Foundation has raised over $500 million in support of these communities, and Sinise has won many awards for his humanitarian contributions, including the Presidential Citizen Medal, the second-highest civilian honor in the United States.

In this episode, Sinise reflects on his three decades of service, from building dozens of specially modified homes for wounded veterans and first responders to playing nearly 600 concerts with the Lt. Dan band (named after his Forrest Gump character) at military bases across the United States and overseas.

Sinise’s son McCanna Anthony “Mac” Sinise died last year at age 33 after a five-year battle with a rare bone cancer called chordoma. Before he passed, he was able to record an entire album of music that he’d begun in college. It’s titled “Resurrection & Revival.”

Mac’s story and his father’s full tribute to his son can be found here on the Gary Sinise Foundation website: https://www.garysinisefoundation.org/mac-tribute

CHAPTER TITLES
0:00:01 – Family Military Heritage and Early Inspiration
0:04:04 – Lieutenant Dan: A Transformative Role in Understanding Veterans
0:08:50 – The Significance of Challenge Coins
0:11:22 – Mac Sinise: A Musical Legacy and Battle with Cancer
0:18:12 – Relocating to Tennessee and the Lieutenant Dan Band
0:21:02 – Serving Through Music: Concerts and Troop Support

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