. >> reporter: pitsenbarger was killed fighting off the vietcong. the survivors recommended him for the medal of honor, but it was downgraded to the air force cross. the story of william pitsenbarger would not die. what kept it alive? >> the veterans kept it alive. with the admin of the internet, the miracle happened. and the miracle was the wives of a lot of these veterans started to connect through email, and they started to realize from one another that pits never got the medal. some of the paperwork had been lost. >> reporter: some people thought it had been hidden by the army. why would it have been hidden by the army? >> i think there was a belief this operation where pitsenbarger was killed was an embarrassment to the army because they sent this company to go out and find the enemy, and what they found was an ambush. and about 80% of that unit was killed or wounded in action. >> reporter: peters knew injustice when he saw it, and set out to fix it. >> there was a realtime pressure because pitsenbarger's father was dying of cancer at the time.

reporter: in 1966, navarro was a soldier in charlie company which suffered 80% casualties, 80% in a vietcongs like absolute hell. >> it was. people moaning, praying, calling for their mother. >> be advised we're in a tight one down here. multiple casualties. >> reporter: as depicted in a new movie, "the last full measure," william pitsenbarger, an air force pararescue man descended into that hell. >> it's all true, and most of it happened. >> this project started over 15 years ago. >> reporter: todd robinson wrote, directed and produced "the last full measure." >> it's really not about william pitsenbarger. it's about the effect he had on the living. >> i've had ptsd since that day. i've had some very bad times, but i always think of pitsenbarger. >> reporter: pitsenbarger was lowered through the jungle canopy to treat and evacuate the wounded. >> as he was coming down through the trees, i just happened to be the one that met him. we became friends real fast. >> reporter: when you saw him coming down from that helicopter, what did you think? >> i thought he was crazy. >> reporter: navarro wa

they get on one side and the vietcong would occupy the city, who began to execute people who they labeleds or collaborators with the south vietnamese regime. then they had the south vietnamese life -- army and marines eventually dropping napalm inside the city of l walls. people dug bunkers and many died. when you are ostensibly fighting for a cause and that cause is indiscriminately killing civilians, at some point everyone steps back and says, this is wrong. that image of a nine-year-old girl struck by napalm, which is the definition of an indiscriminate killer, and i think the public opinion had begun to turn against the war. i was in college. i remember the marches. millions were turning out to march against the war. i do think images are extraordinarily powerful and it captures the horror of the moment. and also the reality of the moment. hannibal: it makes me think of that image of him it till, which had the exact same impact -- of emmitt till, which had the exact same impact. a young boy disfigured by hatred and violence. mark: he took a picture of him in his coffin because she sai