Sounds like he was frag'ed to me... Granades underneath a recently taken off copter don't just appear...
Maybe Cleland is 3 limbs short of being a whole traitor... as he seems to makeing evident daily.. by being a democrat
Including, of course, George W. Bush. He was not shot at with bullets, but from what I have heard of the F102, he did something almost as dangerous day after day.
I just love it when she exposes liberals for what they are: Liars.
I love this line best! you tell like it is Ann!
TRAGEDY TRANSFORMED WHEN A GRENADE SHATTERED HIS LIMBS IN VIETNAM, MAX CLELAND COULD HAVE GIVEN UP. INSTEAD, HE CAME BACK FIGHTING -- ALL THE WAY TO THE US SENATE.
Jill Zuckman, Globe Staff August 3, 1997 Page: 12 Section: Sunday Magazine
Dawn came to Khe Sanh in a blush of orange and pink. After five days and nights, the sounds of war had given way to quiet, save for the grunts and coughs of soldiers as they stood, stretched, and took in the morning. Captain Joseph Maxwell Cleland emerged from the bombed-out crater where he had faced his first real battle of the Vietnam War. He felt the way some people do after they have jumped out of an airplane -- the fear had finally subsided, and now a joyous rush of adrenaline was coursing through his body. After nine months of duty nowhere near the fighting, battling insects rather than the enemy, he could call himself a soldier.
Cleland, a platoon leader with the 1st Air Cavalry's Signal Corps, had volunteered for the action after North Vietnamese troops threatened to overrun a tiny American post during the Tet offensive of 1968. Those involved in the rescue of the post faced a barrage of 100,000 tons of bombs and 158,000 large-caliber shells, which rained down amid the screams and cries of the wounded. More than 500 American men lost their lives, and 1,600 were wounded. Among the North Vietnamese, about 15,000 died. As Cleland and his communications team worked in the sulfurous-smelling crater to maintain radio contact with the troops, men were dying all around Finally, the battle at Khe Sanh was over. Cleland, 25 years old, and two members of his team were now ordered to set up a radio relay station at the division assembly area, 15 miles away. The three gathered antennas, radios, and a generator and made the 15-minute helicopter trip east. After unloading the equipment, Cleland climbed back into the helicopter for the ride back. But at the last minute, he decided to stay and have a beer with some friends. As the helicopter was lifting off, he shouted to the pilot that he was staying behind and jumped several feet to the ground.
Cleland hunched over to avoid the whirring blades and ran. Turning to face the helicopter, he caught sight of a grenade on the ground where the chopper had perched. It must be mine, he thought, moving toward it. He reached for it with his right arm just as it exploded, slamming him back and irreparably altering his plans for a bright, shining future.
****snip*****
The tragic events there brought him some glory, marred though it was. After the explosion, the Army gave Cleland the Soldier's Medal, for shielding his men from the grenade blast (no one was nearby, he says), and the Silver Star, for coming to the aid of wounded troops the night of the Khe Sanh rocket attack (something he says his men did, but he did not do).
*****snip******
And yet, Cleland is not a classic hero. He didn't save anyone's life, as Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey, who lost a leg, did. And he didn't suffer beatings and torture as a prisoner of war, as Senator John McCain, of Arizona, did. What happened to him was an accident -- something Cleland freely acknowledges.
During one conversation, he casually refers to himself as a hero, albeit an accidental one. "President Kennedy was once asked, `How did you become a hero?' " Cleland recalls. " `They sank my boat,' Kennedy said. How did I become a war hero? Simple. The grenade went off."