Award ceremony for Tom Hanks abruptly canceled by West Point’s US Military Academy on same day Trump renamed DoD to ‘Department of War’

Alumni at West Point’s US Military Academy abruptly canceled an upcoming award ceremony for actor and veterans advocate Tom Hanks – citing the need to return the academy’s core mission to be the world’s “most lethal force.”

The email was sent out Friday by Retired Army Col. Mark Bieger, per The Washington Post, the same day that President Trump signed an executive order renaming the Department of Defense the “Department of War.”

“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,” Bieger wrote in the email circulated to alumni.

Hanks was scheduled to be honored on Sept. 25 with the Sylvanus Thayer Award, dedicated to recognizing an “outstanding citizen” that did not attend West Point but still exemplifies the academy’s ideals of “Duty, Honor, Country.”