The Man Left Behind

Paul Longgrear was sent to Vietnam to command an elite combat unit of the U.S. Army Special Forces. At home, his wife tended to their newborn daughter and dutifully kept her promise to pray for her husband at war. The prayers never really meant much to Longgrear until the early morning hours of February 7, 1968. Trapped in a concrete bunker with seven other Green Berets and surrounded by a determined enemy using tanks for the first time in the war, Longgrear retreated to a corner of the shattered bunker and prayed his first real prayer. He knew death would come for him, so he prayed that God would take care of his wife and child. He counted his last 19 rounds of ammunition. Eighteen were for the enemy. The last was for him. Longgrear miraculously survived the battle, but he knew his life would never be the same - because he had to leave a man behind. The Man Left Behind chronicles the return of U.S. Army Col. (Ret.) Paul R. Longgrear to the battlefield at Lang Vei, Vietnam, with his wife and three children. Cameras follow the family as they explore Vietnam, seek understanding about the war, and learn how the conflict created their husband and father the man he is today. The film is narrated by actor Terence Knox, best known for his roles on St. Elsewhere and Tour of Duty, television's first Vietnam War drama.