Tom Cruise is ‘overwhelmed’ after getting surprising military honour for $1,500,000,000 blockbuster

Tom Cruise has numerous accolades to his name but the latest honour is rather unexpected, even the Hollywood heavyweight can’t help but smile.

He was praised by the United States Navy for his work in Top Gun, which has had a very real impact on ‘the force’s recruitment of pilots’.

Beginning in 1986, the franchise — including 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick —follows young pilots training in the Navy’s Fighter Weapons School.

Tom was presented with the Distinguished Public Service Award on Tuesday for his role as Lieutenant Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell in the popular franchise.

The award, presented by US Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro, is reserved for civilians for acts of heroism or support of the Navy.

Tom was absolutely beaming as he accepted the award at Longcross Film Studios in Chertsey, Surrey.

Famously, the 62-year-old actor performs all his own action stunts and is a licensed aircraft pilot.

He returned to his role as Maverick after 36 years away for the highly-anticipated single, which earned $1.49billion (£1.17billion) at the box office.

Del Toro said it ‘brought nostalgia to older audiences and reinvigorated the minds of newer audience members’.

Stopping off in Chetsey as he travelled to Bahrain to visit forces, the Navy Secretary gave Tom the award in recognition of Top Gun having ‘significantly increased’ the force’s recruitment numbers.

The Mission Impossible icon was said to have made ‘exceptional and wide-ranging contributions to the department of the Navy from 1986 to 2023’.

‘Tom Cruise has spent nearly four decades as an unwavering supporter of the men, women and families of the Navy and Marine Corps,’ Del Toro continued.

‘His dedicated support to our sailors, marines and civilians through his efforts in the film industry increased public awareness and appreciation for our highly trained personnel and the sacrifices they make while in uniform.’

He joked ‘I wonder why?’ when noting that recruitment saw a big increase in the late 80s and early 90s.

‘In life, something that is very true to me is, to lead is to serve,’ Tom said after receiving the award.

He shared: ‘I know that to my core and I see that in the servicemen and women. I appreciate everyone’s dedication and it’s a true honour to represent them.

‘I’m just very proud and overwhelmed.’

The Jack Reacher star promised to ‘continue serving the country to make this world a better place’.

However, there were no stunts from Tom at the ceremony, which was filled with guests from the film industry and military.

Top Gun and Mission Impossible director Christopher McQuarrie was in attendance as well as Tom’s sister Cass Capazorio, and Chris Diaz, chief of staff to the secretary of the US Navy.

Keeping things humble, he joked the 16-foot-tall fake escarpments on the set were ‘way too low’ for him to jump from.

Tom thanked everyone for joining him at the studio so early in the morning, adding: ‘That’s what I do – I get on the 4am train and make films all day.’

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