A central Pa. man’s search for the truth led to a Medal of Honor. The story is now a Hollywood film
An American war drama film released earlier this month largely focuses on a central Pennsylvania man’s yearslong effort to have a military rescueman awarded the Medal of Honor.
“The Last Full Measure” is inspired by U.S. Air Force pararescueman William Pitsenbarger, who is credited with saving more than 60 soldiers. He was fatally shot in April 1966 during a Vietnam War rescue mission.
Pitsenbarger was nominated for the Medal of Honor, but it was downgraded to the Air Force Cross — the nation’s second-highest award bestowed to Air Force members. Several attempts over an about 30-year period to discover why were unsuccessful.
The late Parker Hayes, who grew up in Belleville and graduated from Indian Valley High School in Mifflin County before his parents moved to State College, worked from 1997 until 1999 at the Airman Memorial Museum in Maryland.
That’s when he learned about Pitsenbarger, whose story he felt was incomplete.
Hayes wrote a short biography about Pitsenbarger to create publicity about his “mysterious” Medal of Honor refusal, he wrote in a 2001 Cooperstown Graduate Association newsletter.
“He was never writing his own story. He was focused on the stories that were untold,” Greg Hayes, Parker’s brother, said Wednesday in Patton Township. “He dug into this story and it wasn’t about a guy who saved a bunch of lives; there were tons of people in Vietnam who saved lives. It was about understanding who William Pitsenbarger was and what drove him.”
After the biography was published, Parker Hayes interviewed 12 veterans who served alongside Pitsenbarger. Their stories urged him to continue his de facto investigation, which culminated with a Medal of Honor recommendation that was sent to the Pentagon.
Former President Bill Clinton signed off on the award after Congressional approval, and Pitsenbarger was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in December 2000. His parents, Alice and William F. Pitsenbarger, accepted the award on his behalf.
“Parker called the ceremony ‘tear-filled,’ ” Bill Hayes, Parker’s father, said. “I can guarantee you that Parker was part of the tear-filled crowd that saw this as a very emotional recognition because it was justice denied for about 30 years.”
Parker Hayes and several of Pitsenbarger’s servicemen were approached in the early 2000s by Hollywood producers several times about turning the story into a movie. Those conversations stalled and effectively ceased when Hayes died in August 2009.
But nearly 20 years later — with the guidance of one of the first producers to approach Hayes, Todd Robinson — the film was released. It stars Sebastian Stan, Christopher Plummer, William Hurt, Ed Harris and Samuel L. Jackson.
The Hayes family and Parker’s wife, Jen Schommer , learned of the movie while watching TV, Greg Hayes said. The commercial aired Jan. 22, what would have been Parker’s 47th birthday.
“We think about him every day,” Greg Hayes said. “To get to talk about him and tell a story is cool and exciting, but it’s more than that.”
Added Bill Hayes: “It peels back a lot of emotions that have been maybe lying dormant for the past 11 years, or at least part of that 11-year stretch.”
The movie is not yet playing in any Centre County theaters, but Greg Hayes said the family hopes to bring it to The State Theatre. Nearest locations can be found at thelastfullmeasurefilm.com.