Plot hole: When Forrest finds out he is receiving the Medal of Honor, he is addressed as PFC Gump (Private First Class, E3). "Two weeks later", he leaves Vietnam, and is then shown receiving the medal from President Johnson. In this scene, he is wearing Sergeant's stripes (E5). There is no indication or mention of him receiving a promotion, let alone two. (01:02:10 - 01:03:05)
Forrest Gump (1994)
1 plot hole
Directed by: Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Tom Hanks, Sally Field, Gary Sinise, Robin Wright, Robin Wright Penn
Factual error: During the 1972 New Year's Eve celebration, Forrest drinks a Dr. Pepper with a logo that wasn't devised until around the mid 80s.
Forrest Gump: I may not be a smart man, but I know what love is.
Trivia: Forrest's son is played by Haley Joel Osment, who later achieved great fame as the troubled Cole in the "The Sixth Sense". (02:01:15)
Question: What does Jenny die of? And is it mentioned anywhere in the film at all?
Answer: In 1981, when Forrest meets Jenny again, she says she has a virus that doctors don't know. This virus was the HIV virus, as 1981 marks the AIDS outbreak in the World.
Answer: It could have been HIV or Hepatitis C or something else. Maybe someone related to the story or even Winston Groom himself told this at some other place. Nonetheless, it's false that it appears in that book.
It absolutely appears in the second book, 'Gump and Company'.
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Answer: It's not specified in the film, but in the sequel book "Gump & Co" the author mentions that Jenny dies from Hepatitis C as a former drug addict in the early 70s. Hepatitis C was an unknown disease until 1989.