In Forrest Gump, the title character, played by Tom Hanks, receives the Congressional Medal of Honor from President Lyndon B Johnson.
In real life, it appears Hanks will no longer receive another military honor.
The alumni association of the US Military Academy, or West Point, announced in May that it would award Hanks, a two-time Oscar winner, with its 2025 Sylvanus Thayer award, which is given to an “outstanding citizen of the United States whose service and accomplishments in the national interest exemplify personal devotion to the ideals expressed in West Point’s motto: ‘Duty, Honor, Country’”.
Now, the West Point Association of Graduates has canceled the ceremony to honor the actor just weeks before it was to take place, the Washington Post reported.
In an email to faculty, retired Col Mark Bieger stated that the decision would allow the academy to “continue its focus on its core mission of preparing cadets to lead, fight and win as officers in the world’s most lethal force, the United States Army”.
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