Yom Kippur War in 1973, Grechko authorized the Soviet advisers operating the Scud missile brigade stationed in Egypt to fulfill Egyptian request to launch a barrage of missiles at Israeli Defense Forces targets at the Israeli bridgehead on the western bank of the Suez Canal on October 22, just moments before the ceasefire. Seven Israeli soldiers were killed in the attack. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of October 16, 1973, "for services to the Motherland in the construction and strengthening of the Armed Forces of the USSR and in connection with the 70th anniversary of his birth", Grechko was awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union for the second time. Grechko was an active member in the Communist Party, and was a member of the Politburo. As Minister of Defense, he helped modernize the Soviet Army and was greatly responsible for maintaining the military strength of the Soviet Union. He was also responsible for maintaining Soviet military might and hegemony over Eastern Europe. An ideological and strategic hardliner, and a reluctant supporter of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT), his most notable idea was his assumption that a Third World War would always go nuclear at some point, and as such he planned that if World War III did begin, to launch all-out nuclear strikes against the NATO nations the moment that the war began. For Grechko, nuclear weapons would be weapons of first resort in a world war, not weapons of last resort. His views had caused opposition within the military and the political leadership, who wanted the Soviet Union to have a second strike capacity in order to prevent a war with the United States from going nuclear immediately as he preferred. In 1976, shortly before his death, he initiated the deployment of the RSD-10 medium-range ballistic missiles, which led to the NATO Double-Track Decision in the early 1980s. Death Grechko died on 26 April 1976, at the age of 72. According to The New York Times, Grechko's medical report which was published by the Soviet press agency TASS stated that he had suffered for a long time from atherosclerosis and coronary insufficiency. He was honoured with a state funeral and cremated on 30 April. The urn containing his ashes is buried by the Kremlin Wall Necropolis. Personal life Grechko was married to Claudia Vladimirovna Grehcko (1907-1990), with