Actor Gary Sinise — known to movie fans as Lt. Dan Taylor of the hit film "Forrest Gump" (not to be confused with Detective Mac Taylor the hit TV series "CSI: NY") — took on a different role yesterday:

Bass picker for the 11-piece Lt. Dan Band.

The band — named for Sinise's Academy Award nominated performance — took the stage yesterday afternoon for a special USO Concert at Marine Corps Base Hawai'i at Kane'ohe Bay.

The gig was one of dozens of USO concerts Sinise and the band have performed for the troops in countries around the world since 2003.

Sinise has starred in more than 20 films. In "Apollo 13" he played Ken Mattingly, the rookie astronaut slated to be on the ill-fated mission who got scrubbed two days before launch after he was exposed to measles. He was George Milton in "Of Mice and Men" (which he also directed), alongside John Malkovich's Lenny. He was the crooked cop Jimmy Shaker in "Ransom."

But the role for which most people remember him most is the paraplegic Lt. Dan Taylor in "Forrest Gump."

Why would any actor and director as busy as Sinise ("I had to turn a movie down yesterday," he casually mentioned before yesterday's concert) take on such a load?

Because it's important, he said. Because of emotions brought on by 9/11. Because Americans risking their lives in the Middle East need to know we care. Because of Vietnam.

Before 9/11, Sinise said he had been involved for years with Vietnam veterans groups. Members of his own family had fought in that war and bore the physical and emotional scars.

"And I remember all too well how our Vietnam veterans were treated when they came home," he said. "And I wanted to make sure that our troops that were going out to fight these battles today understood that they were appreciated.

"We don't want that to happen again."

One person who personally experienced the sting of coming home from Vietnam to a hostile public is the band's guitar picker, manager, and co-founder, James Kimo Williams, a 1969 Leilehua High School grad.

"Oh, yeah, I know that feeling (of being unappreciated after serving in Southeast Asia)," said Williams, 57, an African American who has taken on the name Kimo to maintain his connection with Hawai'i.

Williams joined the Army here in 1969 and the following year he was sent to Vietnam and assigned to a combat engineer company at Lai Khe. Today, when he's is not performing with the Lt. Dan Band, he is a professor of musical management at Columbia College in Chicago.

He and Sinise met in Chicago when Williams was working with Sinise's Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and later the two began jamming together. Lt. Dan Band was born from that friendship.

Their association with USO began in 2003.

"This is a great show," said David McIntyre, Jr., with the USO World Board of Governors and CEO of TriWest Healthcare Alliance, which serves the troops in 21 states, including Hawai'i. TriWest sponsored yesterday's concert.

"Those of us at USO are very fortunate to have someone like Gary Sinise, who is giving so selflessly of his time and his energy, along with his band, to come out and do what he's doing."

Sinise said the Lt. Dan Band concerts might seem an odd diversion for a film actor. But he reminded everyone that before he made movies and TV shows, he was stage performer.

"I've done a lot of live theater," he said. "But now that I'm on television, I can't do it. I've got a full time job with 'CSI: NY.' I can't get up on stage and act in a play.

"Going out with the band these days is kind of my theater fix."

If the idea was to express gratitude to men and women in uniform, the hundreds of screaming, applauding troops that showed up for the concert more than returned the sentiment.

"Gary's one of my all time favorite actors," said David Walsh, a Marine corporal who hails from New Jersey and who has seen virtually everything Sinise has performed in — movie and TV. "We greatly appreciate people like him."

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.