The Return (2019)

The summer of 1969 was one of the most transformational periods in U.S. history with events such as Apollo 11, Woodstock and the Vietnam War. And August 20, 1969, is a date that Pittsburgh Steelers legend and Vietnam veteran Rocky Bleier will never forget: the day he was wounded in combat. Fifty years ago, Bleier had helped Notre Dame win a college football national championship and was in his rookie season with the Steelers when he received notice that he had been drafted into the U.S. Army. Three months into his deployment to Vietnam, Bleier was shot through the thigh and suffered a grenade blast to his foot. Doctors told him that he'd never play football again. Steelers owner Art Rooney supported Bleier by placing him on injured reserve rather than cutting him from the team. Bleier then defied the odds, returning to football as a star running back on the "Steel Curtain" Steelers teams of the 1970's and becoming the only war veteran to have four Super Bowl rings. In The Return, Bleier joins ESPN's Tom Rinaldi to go back to Vietnam. In the Hiep Duc Valley, Bleier walks on the grounds where he and other members of "Charlie Company" were ambushed.