JAMESTOWN, N.D. (AP) — A 69-year-old Vietnam vet who lost a hand after it got stuck in a meat mixer while he was making sausage at his North Dakota home says he had to slice off his left arm above the wrist with a butcher knife or risk bleeding to death.

In his first public comments since the Aug. 17 accident, Myron Schlafman said he credits two police officers with saving his life by quickly applying a tourniquet before ambulance crews took him to the hospital.

"I've always appreciated life, but not as much as I do now," he told KFGO radio .

Schlafman said he was taking a chunk of meat out of...