That means he was born in 1889, plus or minus a year. If he joined the army at 15, that puts his enlistment year as 1904. Potter would have been 27 when we entered WW1. So that means he went to medical school at age 32 or better.
So he was already career Army by 1917, probably a noncom at the age of 27 and looking at retirement when the Korean War ended in 1953. That makes good sense.
And when Henry Morgan played General Bartford Hamliton Steele (3 E’s, not in a row), he said he was ‘62 years old and fit to play halfback’.
If you go here and click on the character names, it will give some answers. For example, for Sherman Potter it says:
"When Potter first takes command September 19, 1952 he claims to be 51 which would place his birthdate in 1900/or 1901. In the episode, “Pressure Points”, Potter gives his age as 62. With the episode set in 1952, he would have been born in 1890, and been fifteen years old in 1905; likewise in a two part episode when Major Burns is missing {Gone from the show} he claims to have smoked cigars for 47 years-since 1905/6 {age 15{?} In 7.2, he mentions having been in the army for thirty-five years; assuming the year is 1952, he would have joined in 1917, the year the United States entered the First World War. Assuming he did enlist at age fifteen, he was born in 1902. In another episode, he mentions joining the cavalry during the days of Theodore Roosevelt’s “Rough Riders”, which only existed during the Spanish-American War of 1898 which would have made him 69 in 1952 when the mandatory military retirement age for officers is 60{!) . In 5/4 whan Radar is “promoted” to 2nd Lt for among other things “bugling” Potter claims to have been in the army for 40 years-implies he enlisted he 1912-age age 15? In 11.7 Potter rants that someone over sixty shouldn’t go to Florida; both the previous and succeeding episodes reveal that the timeline is the June/July of 1953. "
Yes, I remember a scene where somebody was talking about how Hawkeye wasn’t taking “the war” seriously and he said “Which war? I’ve been in two of them.”
Doesn’t mean he couldn’t have also been a WWII veteran.
In the movie MASH*, Mulcahey tells Hot Lips that Hawkeye was indeed drafted.
Continuity was never the TV series’ strong point. Hawkeye’s mother goes from being alive to being dead; Margaret’s father goes from being dead to being alive; and the names of Blake’s and Potter’s wives were different in different episodes. Burns went from being “a good surgeon” (Henry’s words) to being “pastry-chef” incompetent (the court martial episode).
I’m sure there were other discrepancies as well, but I can’t remember them right off the top of my head.
I’ve seen every episode dozens of times and don’t recall any mention of Hawkeye being in WWII. It’s possible he was stateside during WWII though.
Does the math work out?
Hawkeye also went from having a sister to being an only child.
Also, is the OP talking about the TV series or the movie (or the book)? I think some people are getting this confused.
It would make him around 40, which is kind of old for frat-boy pranks, especially if he’d seen action previously.
I think the OP is referring to the TV series; certainly that’s the version most people are familiar with. I was just pointing out that continuity in the franchise was minimal, at best.
The continuity in the series is virtually non-existent. The time-line jumps all over the place.
Also a bit old for a Captain, come to think about it.
Especially for Potter. Not sure if you can take what anyone says at face value. The idea that Hawkeye was in WWII is laughable.
The book doesn’t match the TV series. In the early episode where Hawkeye is named chief surgeon, Blake explicity points out that Hawkeye was certified in both general and chest surgery.
That’s from the Mail Call episode and he’s giving Frank the business as usual. The line is not to be taken seriously.
Makes more sense.
This makes me remember a scene in the final episode. They’re all sharing what they’re going to do when they get home. Lots of happy talk about continuing nursing or staying in the army. One nurse stands up, looking depressed and fed up with everything, says she was in the tail end of WWII and that she’s had it.
Most honest moment of the whole episode.
That certainly eliminates any chance of continuity, then. He could be any age.
I don’t see why. Only five years separated World War II and the Korean War.
As for Hawkeye’s character, I think previous war experience makes his cynicism about war and the Army seem more plausible. He had already lost whatever illusions he had in World War II.
Trivia note: Richard Hornberger, the guy that wrote the novel MASH* (under the pseudonym Richard Hooker) got royally screwed by Hollywood. He didn’t anticipate how much his book would be worth and sold the movie and TV rights for five hundred dollars.
Yes, I should have specified that. Sorry.
Depends on when he finished medical school and was certified. To have seen service in WWII, he would have had to be at least in his early 30s in Korea.
Hooker/Hornberger, who based Hawkeye Pierce on himself, was 21 in 1945 and 26 when the Korean War began. Interestingly, Hot Lips in the novel was herself around 40: