U.S. Navy Awards its Highest Civilian Honor to Tom Cruise

The U.S. Navy has awarded its highest civilian honor to actor Tom Cruise, whose reboot of the "Top Gun" franchise has given the service a much-needed publicity boost.

In a ceremony on Tuesday, outgoing Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro presented Cruise with the Distinguished Public Service award. The award is the department's highest honor for non-employee civilians, and is granted for "exceptionally outstanding service of substantial and long-term benefit to the Navy" or for "acts of valor or heroism." 

In the citation, the Navy thanked Cruise for increasing "public awareness and appreciation for our highly trained personnel and the sacrifices they make while in uniform."

"Tom Cruise has spent nearly four decades as an unwavering supporter of the men, women and families of the Navy and Marine Corps," said Del Toro in remarks at the ceremony. The secretary delivered the award to Cruise in London, near the set for the actor's next movie, the final film in the "Mission: Impossible" franchise.

“I admire all of the servicemen and women,” Cruise said. “I know in life, something that is very true to me, is that is to lead is to serve. And I know that to my core. And I see that in the servicemen and women.”

The first "Top Gun" movie came out in 1986, and Cruise's adventures as a charismatic fighter pilot may have prompted a small spike in Navy recruitment that year. (The effect is still debated.) It's unclear whether the 2022 sequel, "Top Gun: Maverick," helped attract a new audience to the Navy's recruiting offices - but the Navy did achieve its accession goals in 2024, ending a previous slide. 

Other awardees include Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg for their roles in making "Saving Private Ryan," which dramatized one of the Navy's finest hours - the D-Day landing of WWII - for modern audiences.