My name is Eric Troy. My mission here at MASH FAQ is to answer your questions about our favorite TV show from the 1970s and 80s! I have watched the entire run of MASH through so many times, at I lost count and I always turn back to the show when I need comfort, familiarity, and to visit old friends. MASH helped me through a rough childhood and I wanted to have some fun writing about it!
When MASH first came on the air in 1972, I was only three years old. But I was lucky to be old enough to be able to watch new episodes as they aired in the later seasons. At the same time, the show was already in syndication and I watched reruns on my little black and white TV in my bedroom, every night at 11 pm. It was comforting, funny, and I never missed a chance to watch it.
Since then, I’ve kept watching, and meanwhile, I’ve had quite a life in the military, a rock n roll band…the old familiar story. Since all that, I’ve been a writer and owner of several websites. I began looking around, and I realized something. There are no sites that do what I plan to do here! It was surprising, to be sure. There is a very good Fandom Wiki site dedicated to the show, and a couple of other MASH-centric websites that are also great, but none of them attempt to simply answer common questions that people may have. Instead, as is often the case, they try to be everything MASH. So, if you wanted to find an answer to a question, you’d have to read and read and hope to find it!
You can find answers about the show on social media, especially Reddit or Quora, but again, you have to search for the answer to your specific question, and you get a lot of mixed opinions and info. If you Google a question, you’ll get an incorrect answer almost 100% of the time. So that is the problem I’m trying to solve. I can’t answer every single question about MASH on this site, but I can try to answer some of them. These articles will be long and detailed, but they will also be focused on giving you the answers you need!
I studied history in college, have medical and health experience. I also have extensive research experience, putting me in a unique position among those writing about MASH, as I can add a nuanced perspective in terms of historical questions pertaining to the show, the Korean War, and the medical situations portrayed.
What I’m Not Doing
There are a few things we have to get straight. MASH was based on a novel by Richard Hooker (pen name of Richard Hornberger) about a U.S. Mobile Army Surgical Hospital or MASH, in Korea during the Korean War. He actually wrote a series of books, but the film adaptation and the television show were based on and inspired by the first in the series. Not all of the characters from the book were featured in the show, and to be crystal clear, the show was loosely based on the book. As the show went on though 11 seasons, it was less and less based on the book.
On this site, I’m not here to talk about the book or the film. I’m a fan of neither, to be honest. I’m here to talk about the TV show. It’s not my purpose to rehash how different the show was from the film or the book or to compare and contrast ad infinitum. I will, of course, have to make comparisons to answer some questions, and I will do so happily. But, if you expect me to be everything for everybody, well, I just can’t do it! So, expect the focus to be entirely on the show with only necessary visits to the film or book for clarity’s sake.
I intend to write many articles about the historical accuracy of the MASH TV series, but I wouldn’t want you to think that was a central mission of this site. MASH was, after all, a fictional comedy show. Even the way that the show depicts the drafting of Hawkeye, Trapper, and BJ into the war is not based on historical reality. That is, the Doctor’s Draft was a bit more complicated than just randomly drafting newly minted doctors. The novel explains how it really happened, to some extent, as it was based on true experiences. An even better explanation can be found in the book MASH: An Army Surgeon in Korea, by Otto F. Apel M.D.
I’ve already written about how far the 4077th was to the front and whether this is historically accurate, and more.
Articles About MASH Historical Accuracy
The Most Inaccurate Medical Detail on MASH
Were There No Permanent Buildings in MASH Units? Only Tents?
Were the Helicopters Used In MASH Accurate?
Why Was MASH Banned in South Korea?
Was the Korean Speaking On MASH Accurate?
I plan to keep everything simple, including the layout and the articles, so you can find the information you came for as quickly as possible and not have your eyes diverted to a lot of confusing nonsense. And, if I get something wrong, I apologise! I will try my best to be as accurate as possible, but keep in mind we are talking about a fictional television show here. Some questions are difficult to answer for the simple reason that they were not written. We have to make our own interpretations, and sometimes this diverges into opinion. But, it should still be fun!
As for articles that delve into what it was like at real MASH units in Korea, as in the historical accuracy articles, these are incredibly difficult to research, even to a seasoned hand like myself. The Korean War was fleeting, and MASH units were in a constant state of flux and revision. Together with a dearth of first-hand accounts, this makes finding fact-based histories a challenge. I will do my utmost to bring the facts to you, though!
This is a fan site that provides general information about the television program MASH. It consists of original articles and commentaries about the show. No affiliation is implied between this site and the copyright and trademark owners of MASH. M*A*S*H is a registered trademark of the Twentieth Century Fox/The Walt Disney Company.