A frequent criticism of MASH is that the show features a permanent building, namely, the pre-op, operating room, and post-op ward. Attached to this is the clerk’s office and the commanding officer’s office. It is claimed that historically, a real MASH would have never had any permanent buildings, only tents. After all, a MASH unit had to be mobile, and so only tents could be used. This criticism is based on a misconception.
The presence of permanent buildings at a MASH unit depended on the time period in the war. MASH’s depiction of a “permanent” tin-sided building as the main hospital was accurate during the period of the war the show depicted, which was the last half of the war, during a more stable period.
Early MASH Units Had Only Tents
During the early, more chaotic days of the Korean War, MASH units were often forced to move constantly and only used tents, including for the operating theater. However, the structure of the units and even their mission changed drastically during the first part of the war. In fact, many units that were not technically mobile came to be called MASH units.
Semi-Permanent Buildings Were Sometimes Used In MASH Units During the Second Half of the Korean War
As the war stabilized, the demand for mobility in real MASH units decreased. Some units that were originally MASH units were redesignated and were given new missions and configurations. The early MASH units in Korea were meant to be temporary. They were, in fact, a slapdash deployment, started from scratch with no clear idea of what a MASH unit should look like and how one should be run. Those first units deployed into Korea were the MASH 8055, 8063, and 8076. They were all deployed in July 1950.
While most descriptions of MASH units say that the units operated solely from tents, a more accurate description would be that MASH units, taken in aggregate, operated from tents or semi-permanent buildings, or even abandoned buildings (more on that below). At least one episode of MASH depicts personnel dismantling the main building by taking down the framed tin walls for transport.
The MASH unit of H. Richard Hornberger, the original author of the MASH novel, was the 8055th. Photos exist of the 8055th showing a tin-sided building erected in the shape of a “quonset hut.” Quonset huts were prefabricated tin-sided buildings with an arched shape, originally developed by the Navy. Later, more modern photos of this Quoneset MASH building also exist. While this building does not look like the hospital building on the MASH set, it does show that more solid and permanent structures existed.
At least one such Quonset hut appears in the MASH television series, although this building is not located in the main camp (Season 5, Episode 9, The Korean Surgeon).
In MASH, the main building housing Blake/Potter’s office, the clerk’s office/communications, and pre-op, operating room, and post-op ward was a semi-permanent building made of tin-sided walls. The Officer’s Club, added in Season 2, Episode 15, titled Officers’ Only, was also a semi-permanent building constructed in a similar way.
Even when MASH units were moving constantly, they were on the lookout for abandoned buildings, like old schools, factories, convents, or anything that could be used as hospitals. This way, the unit could begin operating as quickly as possible without having to set up the surgical tents. In the MASH episode Bug Out Part 1 (Season 5, Episode 1), Colonel Potter looks for abandoned buildings to use as a main operating room when he is scouting for a new location.
Dr. Otto F. Apel, in his book MASH: An Army Surgeon in Korea, wrote of how the 8076th MASH was always looking for abandoned buildings to move into when mobilizing, but they were never very lucky:
Many times MASH units moved into abandoned buildings. In MASH 8076, it seemed we were rarely so fortunate. Only once in my memory did we use anything for an operating room other than an army issue tent. I guess it was just out luck, but others were blessed with buildings and we were blessed with tents.
