Good Form

Well, now I'm confused. Did he kill someone, or didn't he? With the details he used earlier in "The Man I Killed," one would think that he truly did kill a man. On page 171, he says "I watched a man die on a trail near the village of My Khe. I did not kill him." Why would he make up a story like that? I get that he needs to convey a mood. That makes perfect sense. How does he just make up such a realistic story with so many details, though? I'll admit that it did create the proper mood and feeling, but it makes me mad that he lied. There are better ways to convey a mood than to make up a story in a book about men who actually did have stories to tell.