LOCAL HERO | MIKE GRUCHALLA
Original publish date: September-October 2019
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Where is he now? Nearly a year has passed since Vietnam Combat Medic Mike Gruchalla’s story was published in the September-October 2019 issue of The Good Life. Gruchalla was scheduled to go on the April 2020 Honor Flight as a volunteer, but the trip was canceled due to coronavirus restrictions. A dedicated gardener, Gruchalla understands the importance of seasons of rest. As such, he is allowing the garden to rest this year and isn’t sure if he’ll be doing any canning this fall. His current focus is on the herbs he’s planted. All in all, Gruchalla maintains that life is still good despite the coronavirus.
MIKE GRUCHALLA
From the midwest to Vietnam and back, Mike Gruchalla’s focus has always been doing his job well and fiercely serving others WRITTEN BY: ALEXIS SWENSON
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. The 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-yearold 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. 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
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PHOTOS BY: URBAN TOAD MEDIA
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. Life 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
