Bobby Muller
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Bobby Muller |
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| Co-Founder, International Campaign to Ban Landmines; Recipient, Nobel Peace Prize President, Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation As a Marine Lieutenant, Bobby Muller 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. He decided to fight for fair and just treatment for all veterans by joining the anti-war movement and enrolled in law school at Hofstra University. He founded Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) in 1978 and Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF) in 1980. In 1981, Muller led the first delegation of American veterans to return to Vietnam since the end of the war. VVAF became leading advocates of reconciliation with America's former enemies in Vietnam. 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. 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, VVAF's humanitarian programs assist innocent civilian victims of conflict in 14 war-torn countries through a wide range of physical and social rehabilitation services as well as the coordination of survey operations that assess humanitarian assistance needs such as mine/unexploded ordnance clearance and other public health priorities. |