Many of Hollywood’s biggest stars have great respect for veterans.
When speaking with Fox News Digital, celebrities such as country singer Trace Atkins and actor Dennis Quaid shared the importance of acknowledging the sacrifices made by veterans as well as the current members of the United States military, saying Veterans Day gives us the opportunity to do so.
“It’s really a time to honor veterans and take time out,” Quaid told Fox News Digital. “I like it that it’s Veterans Week. We have made more than just a day of it because those guys deserve the whole year [for] what they do for us.”
Others in the entertainment industry shared how their personal experiences with veterans have led them to make a difference in their lives.
Quaid, left, and Atkins believe Veterans Day is a time to acknowledge the sacrifices made by those who serve in the military. (Chad Salvador/Variety via Getty Images | Brett Carlsen/Getty Images for ACM)
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Actor Gary Sinise created the Gary Sinise Foundation in 2011, through which he works to aid veterans, first responders, their families and those in need by providing them with meals, funding for equipment and building them smart accessible homes.
Sinise told Fox News Digital that his work with veterans started long before he created his foundation, explaining he has a “family history of veterans” in both his family and his wife’s family. He later began working with wounded veterans after portraying wounded veteran Lt. Dan Taylor in the 1994 movie “Forrest Gump.”
WATCH: Veterans Day: Dennis Quaid, Trace Adkins among Hollywood stars honoring our military
“There was a lot of steps along the way that sort of galvanized into a full-time mission. I think that the turning point into just tremendous action with regards to supporting the men and women who serve our country was with Sept. 11th, 2001,” he said. “I just felt the need to do something. So I started visiting the troops and going out there, and then I started volunteering for other nonprofits that were supporting them. I’d try to help them raise money and awareness and … at a certain point, it was just clear that I needed to start my own organization.”
Donny Osmond also has a familial connection, revealing that his father “was a sergeant in the Army” whose job was to build the airport runways while stationed in the U.K.
Osmond said America is “a great country” because of the veterans who fight to keep us safe. (John Nacion/Getty Images)
He went on to say that although his father had a “very difficult life,” Osmond is proud of what he did and “what all of the other veterans have done.”
“I look at the safety and the security of our country. Who do we owe that to? Yes, we got our problems. The whole world’s got problems right now. … And we still have a wonderful country,” he said. “Our Constitution is strong, and just as long as we adhere to it and not mess with it. Our founding forefathers, they knew what they were talking about. Yes, they didn’t see the minutia. And we got to figure that out with our Supreme Court and all of our other lawmakers in Congress. But for Pete’s sake, we have a great country. And it’s because of those who have served in the military, period, full stop.”
Atkins told Fox News Digital he has been working with the Wounded Warrior Project for close to 20 years and gets so much out of it on a personal level.
“I’m so proud to have been, and I tell people all the time, it is a little bit of a selfish endeavor because I believe that when you associate with and hang out with heroes, it does something to you,” Atkins said. “And I think it’s made me a better man. And so there is a selfish aspect to it, I’m afraid.”
Atkins has been working with the Wounded Warriors Project for close to 20 years. (Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
“Yellowstone” star Cole Hauser began working with veterans through the Tunnel of Towers Foundation and the Warrior Foundation after an eye-opening visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center when he was 26 years old and met a young veteran with whom he became very close.
“About three months after I got him out of it, Walter Reed, and tried to help with not only his education but also a place to stay, he ended up taking his own life,” Hauser said. “I think that just absolutely changed my feeling[s]. I can’t allow this to happen on my watch anymore. There has to be people like me who are or are doing these things to raise awareness. And so that really affected me.”
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As a veteran of the United States armed forces, Michael Trotter Jr., one half of the popular country duo War and Treaty, has a unique perspective on what it means to celebrate Veterans Day, saying the holiday means “everything” and that “it’s my life.”
“Thank God for the men and women who have served this country. I am so grateful outside of loving my wife and my wife choosing me and me choosing my wife. It’s the greatest thing that I have done in my life, also outside of having children,” he said. “This Veterans Day is very important because we are on the brink of some things that are taking place in our world, and we have to make the right choices, do the right thing here, so I am calling on our leadership to make sure they are wide-eyed and make sure they remember what our country stands for and how we lead the way.”
McKellar called her brother, Christopher, one of her heroes. (Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Others, such as Danica McKellar, have family members currently enlisted. McKellar said she is making sure to “give a special shout-out to my brother, Christopher McKellar, who is in the reserves right now. He served in Kuwait for a while, and he is one of my heroes.”
“Veterans Day is a wonderful opportunity for us to thank and acknowledge the men and women in service who are fighting for our freedoms every day. It’s something that we can easily take for granted,” she said. “Reading the Bible, it’s like, wow, there has been a lot of war and a lot of fighting and most people throughout history live in fear, in uncertainty of being attacked and everything that you own taken from. Being reminded of these stories again and again in the Bible really hits home, like, wow, we really have it good here today. And who do we have to thank? A large part we have the military to thank. We should thank them, and Veterans Day is a great opportunity for that.”
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Actor Erik Estrada had a scary experience in 1980 when he crashed his motorcycle while filming a stunt for his show “CHiPS.” After a mistake during a stunt, Estrada lost control of his motorcycle. He then flew off the bike, with it landing on top of him after he hit the ground.
The crash punctured both of his lungs and broke multiple bones, including his jaw, wrist and a few ribs. When speaking with Fox News Digital, he said “thank God for veterans” and “thank God for Larry Wilcox,” a veteran and his co-star who helped him that day.
Estrada is thankful for veterans, calling them “silent heroes.” (Brian To/FilmMagic)
“I was bleeding in the alley. Larry had been to Vietnam. He was a vet. He came over to me and he grabbed my hand, and he made me focus because he saw that I was turning blue, until the helicopter came to get me to fly me out of there,” he explained. “So these people that are veterans, they are, to me, silent heroes, ready to help at any cost when they see somebody in dire need because they’ve been there and done that and seen that. Thank God for veterans.”
The country music band Old Dominion recently filmed a music video for their song “Coming Home” on the USS Gerald R. Ford. While filming the video, they got to spend some time with service men and women, noting, “[W]hat an unbelievable life they have and what they give us.”
“When you get that behind the scenes little extra window into what they do for us, it gives you such a great appreciation for the life you have and for what they do,” they explained. “We are so proud to be in this country and to have them representing us.”
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