Only on June 1, 2014, did the family learn that their son and his radio man had been killed while seeking Bergdahl. There were some estimates that as many as six Americans had lost their lives during the search. That number would have been doubled were it not for Darryl’s courage in saving six lives.

“We need to make sure who the heroes are and say who is a hero,” Andy Andrews said on Tuesday. “And Bergdahl is not a hero.”

The father had a question regarding the five Taliban leaders who had been freed in the exchange.

“How many soldiers were killed or hurt capturing them?” he asked.

The Andrews family had already lost a daughter to an autoimmune disease in 1999. The added tragedy of losing a son had been hard enough to bear without the wrenching revelations of recent days.