- Back in the present day, a new person has joined Forrest on the bus-stop bench. He's there to hear that Forrest goes to a hospital for treatment and finds himself alongside Lt. Dan, who has lost both of his legs.
- In the hospital, Forrest gets a huge stack of letters returned to sender that he had written to Jenny that never made it to her.
- While he's recovering in an Army hospital, Forrest learns how to play ping pong. For some reason, ping pong comes naturally to him, and he turns into a sort of prodigy.
- One night, Lt. Dan pulls Forrest out of his bed and curses him for pulling him away from his destiny, which was to die in the war with honor.