Local Doc Recounts Events Leading to Bronze Star

Actor Alan Alda has nothing on local retired colorectal surgeon Oscar Grablowsky, who lived to describe his own U.S. Army MASH unit stint as a real hero, earning a Bronze Star Medal based on his selflessness and surgical acumen in 1970 in Vietnam’s Camp Quang Tri.

Many know Grablowsky from his decades of private practice locally but may not know about the rigors of war he experienced as a medical doctor in the “thick of it all,” and having the wherewithal to plow forward in abounding risk to save a stranger’s life while endangering his own. Modest Grablowsky said, “We merely did what we could, and what I was trained to do.”

Grablowsky was born in 1939 and grew up in small town South Carolina before attending Emory University and subsequent training at Tulane University’s Osher Clinic. In 1969, Grablowsky found himself as a U.S. Army general surgeon handling trauma, gun shots, appendicitis, and the like.

He said, “I remember waiting in a bunker underground for hours at a time until the coast was clear. We men played cards and passed the time, until tragedies came in. I recall 121 Vietnamese were killed in one night. We did the best we could. It’s fair to say that not everyone made it. Actually, the Vietnamese had their own physicians, but they were not equal to what we had. Our MASH units were inflatable, not the cleanest of conditions, but better than dying.”

Grablowsky was just “unlucky” on call one night when they brought in a soldier with a live explosive device in his leg. Without consideration for his own safety, Grablowsky stood behind sandbags and gingerly removed the device without incident.

He recalled, “There I was with an anesthesiologist, operating with an unexploded device in a soldier’s leg.”

Success and modesty intact, Grablowsky subsequently received a Bronze Star Medal awarded by the U.S. President. It read, in part, “February 9, 1970, for heroism in connection with ground operations against a hostile force in the Republic of Viet Nam … upon learning of a casualty in the emergency room with possible explosive ordnance imbedded in his right thigh, Major Grablowsky sought advice from an EDO specialist. It was identified as pin flare with hazardous potentiality. With complete disregard for his own safety, Major Grablowsky … delicately removed the flare … and injury to numerous others was avoided.”

Although aggregate figures are not published in open-source military awards, over the course of the Vietnam War, thousands of Bronze Star Medals were given for meritorious service, but much fewer were given in Grablowsky’s category with a specifically designated “V” for valor.

In another emotional memory, Grablowsky was chosen to escort four-star Navy Admiral John S. McCain Jr., who served as Commander of U.S. Forces in the Pacific during the later years of the Vietnam War, around the base to visit soldiers and give out awards to boost morale.

Grablowsky explained, “His visit called attention to his son, (later Senator) John McCain’s plight, who was still incarcerated in Hanoi. I was very honored to be given the role as his escort.”

Grablowsky also recalls maintaining a Jewish connection on the High Holidays where helicopters picked up around 40 doctors to spend three days in China Beach with a rabbi and attending services. Grablowsky carried a ‘45 in his belt, spent time in the “hooch” with no air conditioning, and was also stationed at Camp Evans where he worked in the intensive care unit.

Grablowsky practiced 45 years with various offices at St Joseph’s/Emory, and the former West Paces and Georgia Baptist facilities. He can be found today playing golf at the Standard Club or dining at his favorite Joey D’s.