Former FBI Director Robert Mueller, a Vietnam War veteran, dies at 81

Former FBI director and U.S. Marine Corps veteran Robert S. Mueller III died on Friday at the age of 81, his family said in a Saturday statement reported by the Associated Press.

Mueller was best known to the public for his time leading the FBI from 2001 to 2013 and for acting as special counsel for the Justice Department’s investigation into Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election.

But Mueller’s lesser-known military service was a formative part of his career.

After graduating from Princeton University in 1966 and then getting a master’s degree at New York University, he joined the Marine Corps, where he led a rifle platoon of the Third Marine Division in Vietnam. He served as an officer for three years and would ultimately receive numerous medals, including the Purple Heart, two Commendation Medals and the Bronze Star.

His long legal career began after he completed his service and enrolled in the University of Virginia Law School. He would go on to take the helm of the FBI a week before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and played a large role in the reshaping of national security policy that followed.

Mueller would later credit his long career in public service to his time in the military. In a 2011 speech at a Department of Justice Veterans Appreciation Ceremony, Mueller said, “I count my decision to join the military as one of the best decisions I have ever made.”

“I consider myself exceptionally lucky to have made it out of Vietnam,” he said. “There were many who did not. And perhaps because I did survive, I have always felt compelled to contribute.”