The University of Kansas
An Official Employee Publication From the Office of University Relations
'Day of Infamy' revisited in classes:
Stories of survival
Vince Muirhead, retired KU aerospace engineering professor and department chair, was on the U.S.S. Maryland, stationed in Pearl Harbor during the 1941 attack.
On the 60th anniversary of the Day of Infamy, Muirhead shared his experiences with a group of KU students. Muirhead, a native Kansan and 1941 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, received flight training in 1943. He flew Grumman Hellcats during World War II and was in the last combat flight of World War II on Aug. 15, 1945. His squadron took off at 4:30 a.m. for Tokyo, Muirhead said, and was called back at 7 a.m. The Japanese had surrendered.
After the war, Muirhead studied aerospace engineering at the Naval Postgraduate School at Annapolis, Md., and finished his schooling with a year at the California Institute of Technology. Muirhead stayed in the Navy until he retired as a commander in 1961. He then began teaching in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at KU. Muirhead was instrumental in acquiring funds in the early ‘60s to build the wind tunnel inside Learned Hall. He was named department chair in 1976. Muirhead, who resides in Lawrence, retired from KU in 1989.