Operation Abilene...
...was one of the bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War.
Everybody down!
The entire company nearly wiped out.
We are taking fire!
I prayed for a miracle.
One came.
His name is Pits.
Pits saved lives.
We put him up for the Medal of Honor.
But he never got the medal?
Justice delayed is justice denied.
The Medal of Honor...
...is the highest recognition of military valor there is.
You'll prepare a full decorations review.
Mister Pitsenbarger, Sir...
...I'm from the Department of Defense.
I'm here to learn about your son.
If you want the real story, you'll need to talk to the Mud Soldiers.
I've never seen lost men like that.
Pitsenbarger comes down that wire saves men he never even knew.
Sounds like a suicide mission.
Suicide is hopeless.
What Pitsenbarger did was valor.
Kept telling him to get out but he wouldn't go.
He was there to save lives and that's what he was doing.
Why're you here?
Because you're here.
Hell, he shouldn't even have been there.
None of us should have.
What are you saying?
Friendly fire, we were fighting our own men.
The after action report is missing.
Who even thought up Operation Abilene in the first place?
It's not a can of worms you wanna open.
Why not?
Information was removed from the original review.
You have no idea what you're starting.
I have never seen you back off of anything.
Usually we're judged by what we do...
...but what we don't do is what haunts us.
I'm gonna go public with the story.
Sounds a little dangerous.
But it'll be great television.
Getting that medal for Pits, for the men I lost...
...might be the only decent thing I pull out of that war.
Pitsenbarger's father is dying.
Dying isn't harder than losing a child.
Do what you can.
Guys like Pitsenbarger do what they do for each other.
A life for a life.
I need to finish this.
Give praise as this young man ensures...
...that the sacrifices of the fallen...
...will never be forgotten.
