Tom Cruise received the highest civilian award from the U.S. Navy today for “his outstanding contributions to the Navy and Marine Corps.”
The Top Gun: Maverick star received the Department of the Navy Distinguished Public Service Award, the highest award the secretary can give to a civilian outside the Department of the Navy, from U.S. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro during a ceremony in London.
Secretary Del Toro mentioned Cruise’s decades of work from 1986 to 2023, which included the Mission: Impossible, A Few Good Men, and Born on the Fourth of July films, even if his work on the two Top Gun films is probably a major factor in the recognition.
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“Granting Tom Cruise a Defense Public Service award for his decades of naval advocacy through numerous films was an honor,” Secretary Del Toro stated. “Generations have been motivated to serve in our Navy and Marine Corps by his work.”
In fact, Navy pilot recruitment soared in the late 1980s and early 1990s following the 1986 release of the first Top Gun. Furthermore, Top Gun: Maverick “rekindled younger viewers’ interest in the skill sets and opportunities the Navy provides and brought nostalgia to older audiences,” according to the Navy.
Christopher McQuarrie, who worked on Jack Reacher, Top Gun: Maverick, and Mission: Impossible with Cruise, was also present for the ceremony.
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Cruise remarked, “I’m glad I’ve been able to inspire many of the sailors who serve now or have served in the past.” “The cast and staff I get to work with on all our sets put in just as much effort as I did. The art truly comes to life because of them.
It is hardly Cruise’s first naval honor. At a ceremony held at Paramount in 2020, he and Jerry Bruckheimer, the producer of Top Gun, were designated Honorary Naval Aviators. Their work on the original picture was expressly mentioned in the citation that went with it.
“Top Gun, released by Paramount Pictures in 1986, is the most iconic aviation film in movie history. An entire generation of Americans has been shaped by its characters, dialogue, and visuals. In addition to “significantly promoting and supporting Naval Aviation and putting aircraft carriers and naval aircraft into popular culture,” the film won over millions of hearts and had a profoundly favorable effect on recruiting for Naval Aviation.
Bruckheimer and Cruise are “permitted to don the ‘wings of gold’ of a U.S. naval aviator and are entitled to all honors, courtesies, and privileges afforded to Naval Aviators” as Honorary Naval Aviators.
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