WHAT A LIFE

Max Cleland, Vietnam Vet Who Served in Senate After Losing Limbs in Grenade Blast, Dies at 79

The former Georgia senator lost three of his limbs in a grenade blast in 1968, made headlines when GOP rival attacking his commitment to national security after 9/11.

Max Cleland, the Vietnam vet who lost three of his limbs in a grenade blast before spending four decades in public service, has died at the age of 79. Cleland’s personal assistant, Linda Dean, told The Washington Post the Democrat died of heart failure at his Atlanta home. In 1968, Cleland picked up a stray hand grenade in Vietnam and lost his right hand and two legs. He wrote of the incident in 1980: “The blast jammed my eyeballs back into my skull, temporarily blinding me... When my eyes cleared I looked at my right hand. It was gone... Then I tried to stand but couldn’t. I looked down. My right leg and knee were gone. My left leg was a soggy mass of bloody flesh mixed with green fatigue cloth.” However, after a triple amputation, he went on to lead the Veterans Administration under President Jimmy Carter, served as Georgia’s secretary of state, then was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996. He lost a re-election fight in 2002 after his Republican opponent questioned his courage to lead alongside images Osama bin Laden. After leaving office, he disavowed his support for the Iraq War, calling it “the worst vote I ever cast.”