03/26/2019
HAYS, Kan. – Decorated Vietnam veteran John Musgrave will be welcomed to Fort Hays State University’s campus by the Department of Political Science at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 27, in the Black and Gold Room in FHSU’s Memorial Union to share his experiences and memories from serving in the Vietnam War.

Musgrave was born in Missouri in 1948 and enlisted with the Marine Corps at the age of 17. He served with Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division in Quang Tri Province, Northern I Corps, during the Vietnam war for 11 and a half months before being permanently disabled by his third wound.

Musgrave was medically retired from the Marine Corps as a corporal in 1969 after a long hospitalization. In 1970 he joined and served in a leadership role with the Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

He graduated from Ottawa University and attended graduate school at Kansas University.

Since 1975, Musgrave has served as a spokesperson for the “Live P.O.W. Movement.”

He served as a committee member and spokesperson for the K.U. Vietnam Memorial Committee, which build the first free-standing Vietnam memorial on any college campus in the United States.

Musgrave has spoken at many different events and colleges including at the National Vietnam Memorial, the Department of Defense Armed Forces Public Health Conference, Marine Corps University, M.C.B., Quantico, and at the Purple Heart Memorial in the state of Kansas.

He received the first “Individual Americanism Award” from the Kansas Department of Disabled American Veterans as well as the “Vietnam Veterans National Medal” from the National Vietnam Veterans Coalition.   

Musgrave has also been featured in a 2017 documentary, “The Vietnam War,” produced by Ken Burns and Lynne Novick.

He has written three books of poetry, including “Notes To The Man Who Shot Me,” which won the Robert A. Gannon Award for Poetry by the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation and helped co-author “The Vietnam Years: 1000 Questions and Answers,” with Mike Clodfelter.

Musgrave now lives in Baldwin City with his wife. He is an avid skydiver and the father to four children.

Pi Sigma Alpha, the political honors society at FHSU, is sponsoring this event.

Musgrave’s talk is free and open to the public.