The following editorial appeared Friday in the Kansas City Star.

Jessica Lynch and the family of former NFL player Pat Tillman both deserve answers to the nagging questions they raised in a recent congressional appearance.

Lynch wondered why the story of her capture and rescue in the early days of the Iraq war was distorted by the Pentagon. Tillman’s brother, Kevin, and his mother, Mary, asked why officials concocted a story saying Tillman was killed in a firefight with the enemy, when his death was caused by friendly fire.

Lynch and the Tillman family deserve full explanations.

Lynch was in fact captured and rescued, but she denied she had been the “girl Rambo” portrayed by higher-ups. She pointed to others in her unit as the real heroes.

Lynch’s story would have been exceptional even without exaggeration; few American women have been prisoners of war.

The deceptions in the Tillman case are even more troubling. The truth about Tillman’s death in Afghanistan was initially withheld from his family, even though the essential facts were known to the Army soon after the fatal incident.

Even after all this time, the family still hasn’t learned why Tillman’s clothing and notebook were burned and who ordered it, and why medics apparently tried to resuscitate Tillman for 90 minutes even though much of his head had been shot away.

The Pentagon’s acting inspector general, Thomas F. Gimble, said his investigation couldn’t establish who distorted an initial account of Tillman’s death. The embroidered version became part of the basis for Tillman’s posthumous Silver Star citation.

The promotion of wartime heroism is a practice in which governments have engaged for centuries, but it is usually best to stick to the facts.

There’s no shortage of heroism in Afghanistan and Iraq. Those who serve up fictional accounts and cause unnecessary pain to military families should be held responsible.