Lying?

When people tell stories they sometimes get certain details wrong, especially if significant time has passed.  In fact the term "fish story" was invented since people talking about how big the fish was that they caught is proverbially wrong with the fish getting larger the more time passes.

The essence about catching a "big" fish is essentially correct, to some extent, but some of the details are iffy, at best.

Of course there are lies designed to deceive or deny something or outright falsehoods like how big the fish was when you never went fishing.

So recently Joe Biden has been called out about telling a story concerning a soldier in Afghanistan.

A lot of the details in the story were just wrong, the rank, the service, the time frame and even the type of medal.

Still the point of the story about how the serviceman didn't want the medal for bravery because despite his heroic act, the person he tried to save died.

Is this lying?

Well I guess it depends on how you interpret these things.

If he told the same story but left all the details generic, it would still make the same point, our brave servicemen are faced with horrible circumstances and terrible situations, yet maintain a strong sense of duty.

So its what it is, but, if you look at the lies told by the incumbent President, I think getting some details wrong in a story is very different.