Video: 'Max Cleland on Surviving Vietnam, Walter Reed and Karl Rove'

(Monday, April 8, 1968; during the Battle of Khe Sanh, part of the Vietnam War, the Indochina Wars and the Cold War) — U.S. Army Captain Max Cleland, 25, was seriously wounded today during the Battle of Khe Sanh when a carelessly handled grenade exploded behind him after one of his soldiers dropped it.

Cleland, who would later become the U.S. Administrator of Veterans Affairs and then a U.S. Senator from Georgia, required the amputation of both legs above the knee, and his right forearm.