{"id":68830,"date":"2022-05-26T01:15:01","date_gmt":"2022-05-26T01:15:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/05\/26\/tribute-for-late-va-chief-max-cleland-who-lost-limbs-in-war\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T13:42:53","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:42:53","slug":"tribute-for-late-va-chief-max-cleland-who-lost-limbs-in-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/veterans\/2022\/05\/26\/tribute-for-late-va-chief-max-cleland-who-lost-limbs-in-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Tribute for late VA chief Max Cleland, who lost limbs in war"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ATLANTA \u2014 President Joe Biden and three former presidents paid tribute Wednesday to late <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2022\/05\/25\/top-va-medical-post-remains-unfilled-after-latest-senate-delay\/\" target=\"_blank\">Veterans Administration<\/a> chief and U.S. senator Max Cleland, who lost limbs while serving in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/military-honor\/salute-veterans\/2021\/11\/14\/veteran-reflects-on-vietnam-through-old-letters-home\/\" target=\"_blank\">Vietnam<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Biden called Cleland a hero who \u201cexemplified the best of the American spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Former President Barack Obama said Cleland was \u201csomeone who defied impossible odds to become one of our nation\u2019s finest public servants.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMax wore the physical and emotional scars of war, but he never lost his drive to do right by the people of Georgia and Americans everywhere,\u201d Obama said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Obama, Biden and former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter were not present, but sent letters that were read by Carter\u2019s grandson, Jason Carter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cleland&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.armytimes.com\/military-honor\/salute-veterans\/2021\/11\/09\/max-cleland-dies-senator-and-veteran-lost-limbs-in-vietnam\/\">died of congestive heart failure in November<\/a>&nbsp;at the age of 79, but his memorial service was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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 that were ill-equipped to help so many wounded soldiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speakers at the Atlanta church recalled how Cleland struggled to get up each morning and dress, but still remained buoyant and jovial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe was a man defined not by what had happened in his life, but he was defined by courage and maybe even more than that by one principle: to make a better world,\u201d former U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said. \u201cHe lived that everyday. Yes, he had his demons but he dealt with them in a positive, inspirational way that set a model for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hagel, a Republican, said Cleland\u2019s example was especially important today amid the country\u2019s political polarization. Cleland was a Democrat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBecause he never let that division or polarization ever affect his personal relationships, his love of his country, his love of his friends and brothers, Republican or Democrat,\u201d Hagel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate and fellow Vietnam veteran John Kerry also sent a written tribute in lieu of attending in person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kerry said Cleland came to Iowa in 2003 during Kerry\u2019s presidential run and lifted up his flagging campaign staff, telling them if they didn\u2019t go out and knock on doors in the three-foot snow drifts he would do it himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAnd he told them, \u2018If you see my wheelchair tracks in the snow and they stop, start digging,\u2019\u201d Kerry said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other men would not have recovered from the tragedy Cleland suffered in Vietnam, former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes said. He called Cleland a \u201cforce of nature.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHis disabilities became his strengths. His struggles became our inspiration,\u201d Barnes said. \u201cAfter all these years, I\u2019m still amazed at his sacrifice and service, and I was always humbled to be in his presence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fellow veterans cheered when 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 \u2014 what had previously been dismissed as shell shock \u2014 as a genuine condition while Cleland was in charge, and he worked to provide veterans and their families with better care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cleland left Washington after Carter lost reelection, and in 1982 was elected Georgia\u2019s Secretary of State, a post he held for a dozen years. Then he won the Senate seat of the retiring Sam Nunn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Historian Douglas Brinkley, a friend of Cleland\u2019s, said Cleland \u201cnever forgot a single Vietnam vet his entire life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe wanted to know their back stories, who they dated, how their lives were changed, where they were getting their medical treatment,\u201d Brinkley said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Brinkley called on the veterans administration to honor Cleland with a memorial in Washington.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Joe Biden and three former presidents have paid tribute to late Veterans Administration chief and U.S. senator Max Cleland, who lost limbs while serving in 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