New York, Dec 18, (V7N) - Tom Cruise was honored by the U.S. Navy on Tuesday with the Distinguished Public Service Award, the highest civilian honor the Navy can give. The award recognized Cruise for his dedication to the Navy and his efforts in raising awareness and appreciation for the Navy’s highly trained personnel through his films.
Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro praised Cruise for his "decades of naval advocacy" in movies like Top Gun and Top Gun: Maverick, which have inspired generations to serve in the Navy and Marine Corps. Cruise, in turn, thanked the cast and crew he works with, noting that they help bring the films to life.
Cruise is best known for playing Pete "Maverick" Mitchell in Top Gun, the 1986 blockbuster about Navy pilots, which boosted recruitment in the late 1980s and early 1990s. His 2022 sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, earned over $1.4 billion at the box office and was nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
For the sequel, IMAX cameras were placed inside F-18 cockpits flown by real Navy pilots. Cruise also starred in other military-themed films like A Few Good Men, where he played a Navy lawyer, and Born on the Fourth of July, in which he portrayed a Marine Corps sergeant.
In 2020, the Navy named Cruise an honorary naval aviator, allowing him to wear the "wings of gold" given to U.S. naval aviators. This honor acknowledged his commitment to making the Top Gun films as authentic as possible.
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