Bobby Muller

Raised in a New York City suburb, Bobby Muller’s commission with the U.S. Marines began the same day that he received his Bachelor’s in Business Administration from Hofstra University in 1968. As a Marine Lieutenant, he served as a combat infantry officer in Vietnam. In April of 1969, Muller was leading an assault when a bullet severed his spinal cord and left him paralyzed from the chest down. His service in Vietnam and its aftermath changed his life. During rehabilitation at the Veterans Administration Hospital in the Bronx, NY, Muller experienced firsthand the problems of neglect, frustration, and inadequate care faced by numerous Vietnam veterans. In the aftermath of this experience, he began fighting for fair treatment of all Vietnam veterans by enrolling in law school at Hofstra, and, later, serving as legal counsel for the Eastern Paralyzed Veterans Association. He founded Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) in 1978 and Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (later renamed Veterans for America) in 1980.

Despite the shift from Marine Lieutenant to veterans’ activist, Bobby continued to heed his generation’s call to service. Because of his efforts, VVA is the only Congressionally-chartered organization for Vietnam veterans in America. His tireless efforts as head of VVA resulted in the passage of landmark legislation granting veterans compensation for Vietnam-related maladies, including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Agent Orange. VVA also won for all veterans the right to judicial review of Veterans Administration (VA) decisions. The challenges to the VA have created a revolutionary transformation of the way in which the US government treats veterans.

In 1981, Muller led the first delegation of American veterans to return to Vietnam since the end of the war. As a result of that trip, Muller and VFA became leading advocates of reconciliation with America’s former enemies in Vietnam. The veterans’ reconciliation work ultimately helped to lift the economic embargo by the United States and normalize relations between the countries.

Muller also traveled to the killing fields of Cambodia in 1984. Genocide had claimed one-quarter of the country’s population in four years, and Muller found survivors needing medical care, rehabilitative assistance, and hope for the future. Deeply affected by the tragedy in Cambodia, he decided to work for landmine victims and all victims of war around the world. He established a prosthetic clinic on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital, which is now the National Rehabilitation Center for the country, a modern and fully equipped workshop producing more than 140 prostheses, orthoses, and 30 wheelchairs each month.

In 1991, Muller co-founded the International Campaign to Ban Landmines to continue the work begun in Cambodia. The global landmine campaign received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997. Today, through Muller’s efforts, Veterans for America’s humanitarian programs assist innocent civilian victims of conflict in war-torn countries through a wide range of physical and social rehabilitation services.

In the United States, VFA focuses on ensuring that U.S. servicemembers – both those from the full-time military as well as members of the National Guard and Reserve – who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan receive high-quality care for their post-combat psychological and neurological needs. VFA also promotes policies that decrease the likelihood that additional servicemembers suffer combat-related psychological wounds.

Other campaigns and programs co-founded by Muller include the Nuclear Threat Reduction Campaign and the Campaign for Criminal Justice Reform, an initiative of The Justice Project, and Information Management & Mine Action Programs (iMMAP), which uses information management practices and principles to improve humanitarian relief and support development.

Muller holds a Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa, from Hofstra University.

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