Original Air Date: 12/3/74
Written by: John D. Hess
Directed by: Gene Reynolds
Hawkeye, in possession of a fancy new tape recorder, decides to recite a letter home to his Dad, relating the events of what he calls "A full rich day."
First, during triage, Frank and Klinger have to deal with a Turkish solider, who, even though he is wounded, refuses to be separated from his fellow Turks, yelling and brandishing a knife in the process. Meanwhile, Radar is trying to find a Lieutenant from Luxembourg, who was supposed to be on the bus along with the other wounded.
Then, a G.I. named Smith (William Watson) arrives demanding his Sergeant be seen immediately. When Frank refuses, the G.I. points his rifle at Frank saying in no uncertain terms that's not the right answer. Frank scurries off to get Henry.
Smith then walks into Pre-Op, and makes the same "request." Hawkeye takes Smith aside while Henry takes a look at the Sergeant. Smith reluctantly agrees, but quickly grows tired of Hawkeye's small talk and theory about how each of them see the war differently.
They take the Sergeant in and start to work on him, with Smith waiting outside. As if that wasn't tense enough, the angry Turk brought in earlier gets up from the table, and in his escape from the O.R., accidentally sticks Henry with a needle, knocking him out.
After waking up, Henry is met by Col. Blanche (Curt Lowens), who as told his Lieutenant was at the 4077th. At first he is told the Lieutenant died, which is bad enough. But it gets worse when Radar has to inform Henry and Col. Blanche that the corpse is missing. Henry tells Radar to drop everything and find the body.
Trapper and Frank help fix up the Sergeant, while Radar, in his search for the missing corpse, finds the Turk hiding out in the kitchen. He grabs Hawkeye, and they try and corral him.
After trying to communicate with him in his own language, Hawkeye decides to put a drug in the drink he hands the Turk. He tells Radar it will take a few minutes for it to hit, so he puts the Turk in a jeep with Radar. When the Turk passes out, Radar is to turn right around and return to the 4077th so the Turk can be patched up.
Later, Hawkeye and Trapper tell Smith his Sergeant will be fine, but then Smith collapses in their arms--he's badly wounded, as well.
Unable to find the body, Henry offers to have a memorial for the Lieutenant, which Col. Blanche agrees to. They play the National Anthem of Luxembourg, and as it rings out over the P.A., we see a heavily bandaged solider laying in Post Op, so stirred that he struggles to get up and walk onto the compound.
Turns out this is Lt. LeClerq, who is not dead after all. Col. Blanche is overjoyed, and embraces the man--but gently!
Moments later, the jeep with Radar and the Turk returns, but with the Turk driving, and a passed-out Radar. He hands Radar over to Hawkeye, calls him a "Damn good Joe" and drives off--the end of one very weird day at the 4077th.
Fun Facts: The episode ends with Hawkeye signing off to his Dad, and even though there are some laughs, its very melancholy ending--a nice coda to an episode full of manic silliness.
Hot Lips makes no appearance in this episode.
Favorite Line: Hawkeye tries talking to the Turk in his native language, but can only speak gibberish. The Turk tries to reciprocate, trying to speak some English phonetically.
When Hawkeye mentions the knockout drug is Choral-hydrate, the Turk mutters something to the effect of "Korahyrate."
Hawkeye's attempt to communicate with the Greek soldier by replicating his demeanor and actions is pretty smart, when you think about it.
ReplyDeleteThe Part of a Soldier forcing a Doctor to operate on a another Wounded Soldier-actually happened-only it was 1944! See movie/book "A Bridge Too Far"
ReplyDelete