Photo By Scott Sturkol | Members of the Lt. Dan Band, including actor/musician Gary Sinise, play a song...... read more read more
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Actor/musician Gary Sinise and his fellow members of the Lt. Dan Band held a concert July 13 in front of nearly a thousand concert-goers in front of McCoy’s Community Center at Fort McCoy.
The two-hour free concert by the 20-plus years old band included free food for the guests, courtesy of the Gary Sinise Foundation, and more. Fort McCoy’s Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation (DEFMWR) as well as Directorate of Emergency Services (DES) provided direct support on the day of the event.
Maj. Gen. Joseph Ricciardi, 88th Readiness Division commanding general and Fort McCoy senior commander, and Command Sgt. Maj. James Riddle, Fort McCoy Garrison command sergeant major, provide opening remarks at the beginning of the concert.
“Thank you for coming out to this incredible event,” Ricciardi said. “I’d like to take the opportunity very quickly to thank the Fort McCoy MWR and DES for this setup and keeping us safe today.
“We are very fortunate to have Mr. Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band performing us today,” Ricciardi said. “For nearly 40 years, Gary Sinise has stood as an advocate for America’s servicemen and women. Beginning with his support of Vietnam veterans in the early 80s and his portrayal of Lt. Dan Taylor in the landmark film, Forrest Gump, 30 years ago, he’s formed an enduring connection with servicemembers throughout the military community.
“After the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, he began a full-on mission to serve and support our first responders and military personnel, lending his services to charities across the country,” the major general said. “He formed Lt. Dan Band in 2003, and in the last 20 years, Gary and the band have played more than 580 concerts in support of active duty-troops, veterans, Gold Star families, wounded servicemembers, and our first responders. Tonight's concert is generously supported and sponsored by the Gary Sinise Foundation. So ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band.”
The band plays a wide variety of pop and rock music as well as some country selections. In addition to Sinise, band members also include Gina Gonzalez, Mari Anne Jayme, Jeff Vezain, Kirk Garrison, Danny Gottlieb, Beth Gottlieb, Dan Myers, Ernie Denov, Ben Lewis, Mitch Paliga, Julie Dutchak, Molly Callinan, and Tom “Bones” Malone.
During the show, Sinise discussed more about his history and why he and everyone with the band and his foundation take time to support military members, veterans, and their families.
“There’s a lot of veterans in my family,” Sinise said. “That’s where it kind of starts with me — my grandfather. You saw the album cover of Resurrection and Revival (an album cover displayed on the big screens at the concert). … That is my great-grandfather, Max’s (Sinise’s son) great-grandfather, my grandfather, 17 years old in Yuma, Ariz., training in the U.S. Army to go to World War I. My great-uncle served in World War I as well in the Army. And my grandfather, he came back and went to Camp Grant in Rockford, Ill. … That’s where my grandfather met my grandmother. She was an Army nurse at Camp Grant.
“And they met in like January of, I think it was 1920, after the war,” Sinise said. “And in April, they got married. They didn't mess around back then, you know, come on. And they had three sons. My uncle Jack was a navigator on a B-17 bomber over Europe in World War II. My uncle Jerry — he graduated high school and went off to war, 18 years old, joined the Navy, was on a ship in the Pacific during the Battle of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. And then he was part of the occupying force in Japan. And then my dad, he was the youngest of the three brothers, and he served in the Navy during the Korean War. I'm very proud of my family.”
Sinise also talked about his multi-talented and experienced band and crew.
“I got an amazing crew and an amazing band,” Sinise said. “So good, good stuff. We played hundreds of shows for the military over the years. Love doing it. The Gary Sinise Foundation sponsors these events, you know, much like when people donate to the USO and you know the USO is going to go out there and provide entertainment and do all kinds of things to support the military.
“People … donate to the Gary Sinise Foundation so we get to take our band on military bases all over the world with donations to the American people,” Sinise said.
More history about the Lt. Dan Band can be found at https://www.ltdanband.com.
“In 1997, Gary Sinise and his pal and fellow Steppenwolf Theatre co-founder Terry Kinney decided to do a production of Tennessee Williams’ ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ at Steppenwolf in Chicago,” the website states. “Sinise would play Stanley Kowalski and Kinney would direct. Kinney hired Chicago composer Kimo Williams to write the music, and it was during the technical rehearsals for the play that Gary and Kimo began to discuss their love for music.
Learning of Gary’s talents on the bass, Kimo invited him to his home for a jam session,” the website states. “Over the next few years, whenever possible, the two would play together with other Chicago-area musicians and in 2003, as Gary began what has turned out to be an extraordinary commitment to the USO, it became clear that those early jam sessions had laid the foundation for what would become The Lt. Dan Band.
“In 2003, following one of his many trips overseas to visit those serving our country that year, Gary asked the USO if they would allow him to take a band with him on a tour,” the website states. “He wanted to entertain in the spirit of the Bob Hope tours in years past. As he had already gone on several handshake tours, the USO agreed. The band was pulled together, began rehearsing, and in February of 2004, Gary Sinise and The Lt. Dan Band hit the road on their first overseas USO tour to Korea, Singapore, and Diego Garcia. From those early sessions at Kimo’s house, a few gigs for the troops in the Chicago area in 2003, and that first overseas tour, Gary and the band have played an average of 30-40 shows per year with a good 95 percent of those shows for USO, military charities, resiliency events, or benefits.”
Fort McCoy DFMWR Director Scott Abell was glad they came to perform at Fort McCoy, and he was also glad to see the excellent turnout for the event.
“The event went fantastic, and everyone seemed to enjoy the day,” Abell said. “We were lucky to get the Lt. Dan Band to perform for us at Fort McCoy. Gary Sinise and his entire group were thrilled with how the day went and stated that they can’t wait to come back.”
Learn more about the Lt. Dan Band by visiting https://www.ltdanband.com or https://www.garysinisefoundation.org/lt-dan-band.
Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.” Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.
The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortmccoywi, on X (formerly Twitter) by searching “usagmccoy,” on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/fortmccoywi, and on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@fortmccoy.
Also try downloading the My Army Post app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”
| Date Taken: | 07.18.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 07.18.2025 15:36 |
| Story ID: | 543247 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 1,413 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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