LOCAL HERO | MIKE GRUCHALLA WRITTEN BY: ALEXIS SWENSON PHOTOS BY: URBAN TOAD MEDIA When Mike Gruchalla arrived in Saigon, Vietnam on January 11, 1970, he hit the ground rolling - literally. “As soon as we touched down at the airport base ... the Viet Cong started mortaring us. <strong>The</strong> airplane got to the end of the runway, started taxiing back, lowered the back ramp on the airplane ... we exited while the airplane was still taxiing ready to take off. So, I hit the ground rolling,” explained Gruchalla. Merely seven months prior the 19-year-old had been drafted to serve in the Vietnam War. “I drafted and then I enlisted [in the Army] because my older brother had gone AWOL. I figured that if I enlisted and volunteered to be a medic and got sent to Vietnam, it would keep my brother out of Vietnam,” said Gruchalla. 30 / THE GOOD LIFE / urbantoadmedia.com Gruchalla volunteered to be a medic simply because he knew they were needed and assumed it would send him to Vietnam. In August 1969, Gruchalla left for Fort Lewis, Washington to complete basic training followed by Advanced Individual Training (Gruchalla’s medic training) in Fort Sam Houston, Texas. After the abbreviated training, Gruchalla went home for Christmas leave and arrived in Vietnam on January 11, 1970. <strong>Life</strong> in Vietnam Gruchalla felt life at base camp was far less appealing than getting out in the field and often volunteered for patrol with any group that wanted a medic. “I didn’t like being at base camp where I had to have spit-shine shoes, a pressed uniform; I wanted to do my job,” said Gruchalla. This willingness to go out with anyone — Koreans or other allies — exposed Gruchalla to extremely dangerous situations. In the course of nearly 2 years, Gruchalla found himself in 15 different tunnels, being shot, surviving four helicopter crashes, and being run over by a tank. Earning the Combat Medical Badge Medal Most memorably, Gruchalla cites the event that earned him the Combat Medical Badge Medal, because, “there were only 2,231 combat medic badges awarded in Vietnam.” “On July 2nd, I was sent out to a firebase ... <strong>The</strong> night of the 2nd, we got attacked. When the attack started the enemy was playing Johnny Cash, Charlie Pride, and other country songs over loudspeakers in the jungle. Over a period of five or six hours, we threw everything at them we had.
“ That badge says I did my job. I think I did it well. I wish I could have saved more, but there’s only so much you can do.” <strong>–</strong> Mike Gruchalla urbantoadmedia.com / THE GOOD LIFE / 31