FAQ

Hawkeye, Trapper, Radar, Hot Lips, Henry, Burns, and Father Mulcahy were created by Richard Hooker, as they all originated from his original novel. Klinger was created by Larry Gelbart. B.J., Colonel Potter, and Charles were created by James Fritzell and Everett Greenbaum.

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Two actors, Todd Susman and Sal Viscuso, primarily did them. Coincidentally, they also appeared as characters in various episodes. Todd Sussman appeared in Operation Noselift (1974)(#2.18). Gary Burghoff + Jamie Farr were the only regular cast members to occasionally make the "incoming wounded" announcement.

Mobile Army Surgical Hospital.

Here's everyones age

Hawkeye 28 (1950), 29 (1951), 30 (1952), 31 (1953)

Trapper 30 (1950), 31 (1951), 32 (1952)

BJ 27 (1952), 28 (1953)

Margaret 31 (1950), 32 (1951), 33 (1952), 34 (1953)

Frank 33 (1950), 34 (1951), 35 (1952)

Charles 29 (1952), 30 (1953)

Klinger 28 (1950), 29 (1951), 30 (1952), 31 (1953)

Radar 17 (1950), 18 (1951), 19 (1952)

Henry 43 (1950), 44 (1951), 45 (1952)

Potter 61 (1952), 62 (1953)

McLean Stevenson (Henry Blake) left because he was tired of playing third fiddle to Alan Alda (Hawkeye Pierce) and Wayne Rogers (Trapper John McIntyre), and he was unhappy with the on location working conditions. In addition, he had an offer for his own television show on the table (The McLean Stevenson Show (1976)). Wayne Rogers became unhappy during the first season, when he felt that his character was being reduced to a sidekick to Hawkeye Pierce, instead of the "equal" seen in the original film. After filming the third season in 1975, Rogers decided he had had enough and left the series, necessitating a rewrite of the season four opener in introduce BJ Hunicutt. Both Rogers and Stevenson later admitted that leaving "M*A*S*H" after only three seasons was a huge mistake on their part. Larry Linville (Frank Burns) left because his 5 year contract was up, and he felt that he'd gone as far with his character as he could, and the producers agreed. Though the show was enormously successful at the time, Linville said he had no regrets over leaving. Gary Burghoff (Radar O'Reilly) left due to his desire to spend more time with his family, and personal challenges he was facing at the time. Unlike the previous cast departures, Burghoff agreed to come back for a two-part special in season eight for closure to the "Radar" character. Loretta Swit (Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan) wanted to leave after the eighth season, when the television movie that served as the pilot episode for [Cagney & Lacey (1981)] was picked up as a series, but the producers would not let her out of her contract.

During World War 2 Korea was occupied by Japan and afterwards partitioned along the 38th parallel with the Soviet Union controlling the North and the United States controlling the South. In the North the Soviets installed a Communist dictatorship under Kim Il Sung whilst South Korea elected the pro-American Dr Singhman Rhee who whilst democratically appointed occasionally acted with authoritarian brutality. In the summer of 1950 North Korean forces invaded South Korea and brought their poorly equipped army to the brink of defeat. The United States rushed reinforcements to the peninsula and they were eventually joined by troops from over a dozen different countries after the United Nations passed a resolution condemning North Korea's act of aggression and authorizing military force to be used to oppose the invasion.

In the initial invasion the South Korean armed forces were virtually wiped out as the North Koreans were well equipped with Soviet armoured vehicles, artillery and aircraft whilst the South had practically none, their infantry's American World War 2 vintage anti-armour weapons also proving woefully ineffective against North Korean tanks. US troops who were rushed to South Korea by air as reinforcements fared little better as they were similarly poorly armed and had spent years performing only peacetime garrison duties. However they had the advantage of massive air support from American and Australian planes based in Japan and American and British naval fighter-bombers operating from aircraft carriers off the coast, helping them to stall the enemy advance. This allowed UN forces to hold on to the port of Pusan in the extreme south for long enough to be reinforced with fresh troops and heavy weapons which allowed them to mount a counter attack. Combined with amphibious landings on the North Korean coast at Inchon this brought the UN to the brink of victory in late 1950. However Communist China then intervened in the war with a massive winter offensive which nearly threw the UN forces all the way back into South Korea. A stalemate followed from the spring of 1951 onwards, the opposing armies facing one another along a front line practically identical to the 38th paralell which marked the pre-war border. Peace negotiations between the two sides began in early 1951 but dragged on interminably for nearly 2 years. The major stumbling block was the issue of Chinese and North Korean prisoners held by the UN, their goverments insisting they were all returned home but many of the captives preferring to stay in South Korea. South Korean president Synghman Rhee eventually solved the problem by throwing open the gates of the prison camps and essentially letting the prisoners vote with their feet. In the summer of 1953 an armstice was signed, ending the fighting but still leaving North and South Korea technically at war.

Today the border between North and South Korea is one of the most heavily militarized frontiers on Earth with tens of thousands of North Korean troops on one side facing an opposing force of South Korean and American troops on the other. North Korea is still a communist dictatorship and universally considered to be one of the most impoverished and tyrannical countries in the world, constantly wracked by famine and with an appalling human rights record. South Korea stumbled through a series of military dictatorships and autocratic civilian governments during the Cold War but in the last few decades has become a prosperous and democratic society. The two countries have fought numerous artillery duels and naval battles over disputed territory whilst North Korea has dug several invasion tunnels under the border. North Korea has also sponsored numerous acts of terrorism against both South Korea and Japan, some committed by teams of North Korean commandos landed by submarine, including bombings, assassinations and kidnappings. Ironically given M*A*S*H's relentless anti-war stance the Korean conflict is now widely considered one of the most justified and morally unambiguous cases for miltiary intervention in history.

He bowed out in Rally 'Round the Flagg, Boys (1979) when he suspected Hawkeye of being a traitor after treating a North Korean before a U.S soldier. After baiting Charles with a promise of a transfer to Boston, he finds a map of the 4077th. This map leads Flagg to the Swamp where, in hiding, he finds Hawkeye setting up a table, when two Koreans come in. After seeing Potter join them in the Swamp, Flagg thinks it's a plan to take over the nation.

With Charles in tow and two MPs, he finds that the two Koreans are actually powerful South Korean brothers, and it's only a game of bridge.

The South Koreans promise to get him back, one saying he has "a lot of big contacts at I-Corps"(pronounced "eye-core"). Flagg leaves the swamp and is never seen again.

Both characters were played by actor Edward Winter and there is some evidence to suggest that the two are one and the same. Captain Halloran first makes an appearance in Deal Me Out (1973) as a CID man investigating an incident at the 4077. Upon realizing that there is nothing to the incident, Captain Halloran joins in on the poker game.

In Quo Vadis, Captain Chandler (1975), both Major Sydney Freedman and Colonel Flagg come to the 4077. Colonel Flagg mentions to Freedman that the two once played poker together, which is a possible reference to his earlier role in Deal Me Out. It is also revealed that Colonel Flagg has a variety of aliases and works for CID.

The original film MASH spawned 2 TV series, 'M*A*S*H' and 'Trapper John MD'. 'M*A*S*H' spawned its' own sequal 'After M*A*S*H' which lasted 2 seasons plus a pilot for a proposed series featuring the character of Radar as a small town sherrif called 'W*A*L*T*E*R'.