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Max Cleland , who lost three limbs due to a grenade explosion hand in hand in the Vietnam War and served as United States Senator for Georgia, died Tuesday at 79 years.
Died at his home in Atlanta from congestive heart failure .
Cleland, a Democrat, served a term in the United States Senate, losing a bid for reelection in 2002 before Republican Saxby Chambliss.
He also headed the United States Veterans Administration, was secretary of state in Georgia (1983 – 96) and senator of the same entity (1968 – 75 )
Cleland was a captain in the US Army in Vietnam when do lost an arm and two legs while picking up a grenade dropped at 1968.
For years, he blamed himself for throwing the grenade, but in 1999 he learned that Another soldier had dropped her.
Cleland’s defeat in the Senate generated lasting controversy after the Chambliss campaign aired a commercial that It featured images of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein and questioned Cleland’s commitment to defense and national security.
Senator John McCain, Republican for Arizona and a Navy veteran, was among those who condemned his partymate’s move.
Cleland also led the Veterans Administration of the United States, appointed in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter and who served until 1981.
Cleland served in the Georgia Senate from 1971 to 1975 and was Georgia Secretary of State from 1983 to 1996.
“Max Cleland was one of the most remarkable people I have ever met in my life,” said the former governor. from Georgia and fellow Democrat Roy Barnes.
“Their sacrifice and service will long be remembered as the best of what it is to be Georgian and American. . I will miss his laugh and his good humor; his optimism in the face of tragedy and his courage to persevere. ”
Cleland suffered serious injuries on April 8, 1968 , near Khe Sanh, when he reached for the grenade that he thought had fallen from his belt when he jumped out of a helicopter.
They cleared up I looked at my right hand. It is gone. Nothing but a splintered white bone protruded from my shattered elbow, “Cleland wrote in his memoir” Strong at the Broken Places “in 1980 .