While Forrest recovers in a hospital, he meets a tank commander named Dan. Dan was badly wounded and is one of the only officers Forrest has met who he considers smart. Dan says that everything happens for a reason, which confuses Forrest as he thinks about Bubba’s death. An officer arrives and tells Forrest that he has won the Congressional Medal of Honor. He will be flying home the next day to meet the President.

Forrest begins playing ping pong in the hospital, and it’s immediately obvious that he’s a prodigy. Not even the best players can challenge him. One day, Forrest realizes that he doesn’t know what he’s going to do after the war. He decides to start a shrimp pond and then grow and sell shrimp, just as he sees a local Vietnamese man doing.

At the end of the chapter, he receives three letters. The first says his mother’s house burned down after a malfunction with a hairdryer, but she is unharmed. The next is from Dan, who says that Forrest has a good heart and is on the cusp of greatness. The third is from Jenny. She’s playing in another band and is highly active in anti-war demonstrations.