Max Cleland dies; senator and veteran lost limbs in Vietnam
Source: ABC News
ATLANTA -- Max Cleland, who lost three limbs to a hand grenade in Vietnam and later became a groundbreaking Veterans Administration chief and U.S. senator from Georgia until an attack ad questioning his patriotism derailed his reelection, died on Tuesday. He was 79.
Cleland died at his home in Atlanta from congestive heart failure, his personal assistant Linda Dean told The Associated Press.
Cleland was a U.S. Army captain in Vietnam when he lost his right arm and two legs while picking up a fallen grenade in 1968. He blamed himself for decades, until he learned that another soldier had dropped it. He also spent many months in hospitals ill-equipped to help so many wounded soldiers.
Fellow veterans cheered when President Jimmy Carter appointed Cleland to lead the Veterans Administration, a post he held from 1977 to 1981. The VA and the wider medical community recognized post-traumatic stress disorder — what had been previously been dismissed as shell-shock — as a genuine condition while Cleland was in charge, and he worked to provide veterans and their families with better care.
Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/max-cleland-dies-senator-veteran-lost-limbs-vietnam-81055784
A great man and a real true patriot. RIP sir.
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... what an amazing life! RIP and thank you, Max Cleland.
I will never forgive or forget how he was smeared by the RW.
It’s a mystery to me how these guys who attacked and smeared Max could live with themselves. How can you treat a patriot and hero like this for a little bit of transient power? My dad, a WW2 vet, was absolutely disgusted and horrified.
Farewell, Sir. Well done!
Rest easy...you stand relieved. We have the watch.
a true patriot.