The West Point alumni association has canceled an award ceremony for Tom Hanks, and the reason given was to “focus on its core mission of preparing cadets to lead, fight, and win,” the Washington Post reported.
Hanks was set to receive West Point’s Sylvanus Thayer Award, which is awarded to an “outstanding citizen” who did not attend the school. The ceremony and accompanying parade were scheduled for September 25.
Retired Army Col. Mark Bieger wrote in a memo to the school’s faculty Friday that it will not hold the ceremony at all. He did not note whether Hanks will still receive the award.
“This decision allows 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,” wrote Bieger.
The first Sylvanus Thayer Award was received by Nobel-prize winning physicist Ernest Lawrence in 1958. Other recipients have included comedian Bob Hope, astronaut Neil Armstrong, various U.S. presidents, and actor Gary Sinise. The 2024 recipient of the award was Barack Obama.
