‘Lt. Dan’ to help Wal-mart honor veterans

Actor Gary Sinise, who played Lt. Dan Taylor in the Oscar Award-winning movie Forrest Gump, will help WalMart Stores Inc. honor veterans during a Veterans Day celebration Monday at the retailer’s home office in Bentonville.

Attendees will also include several veterans hired as part of the Welcome Home Commitment — the company’s promise to hire any veteran who has been honorably discharged in the last 12 months. Wal-Mart has said it intends to hire 100,000 veterans by 2018.

The celebration Monday will also feature Wal-Mart President and Chief Executive Officer Mike Duke and senior director of military programs Gary Profit.

In Forrest Gump, Sinise portrayed the lead character’s superior officer in the military during the Vietnam War.

“Wherever I go for the military, they always call me Lt. Dan,” Sinise has said. “They just can’t help it.”

— Cyd King