Collision Course to the 4077th

The War Starts | Chapter 1: The Letters Arrive

“What a wonderful day in Ottumwa, Iowa.” Thought a little boy while feeding his animals.

This little boy was Walter O’Reilly he had grown up with his ma and Uncle Ed. All of sudden a voice broke this little boys peace. It was is Ma calling out into the barn to Walter that there was a notice on the door for him. Surprised the little boy ran inside to read the notice. As soon as he got inside the little boy saw the notice said. Reading aloud to his Ma and Uncle Ed, Walter said:

The President of the United States calls YOU! To fight for your country in South Korea.

After reading this he looked at his family then looked back at the letter. He decided that he should make a stand and go enlist. His family agreed and let him go.

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In another state though the exact opposite was happening to a man in Crabapple Cove, Maine. His name was Benjamin Franklin Pierce, but everyone called him Hawkeye. He lived with his father and was a surgeon. While in his office with his last patient Hawkeye kept thinking “I can’t wait to get home and go to sleep”

(This would all change very soon)

As soon as his patient was done he left his office and started home. He reached home and welcomed his Dad with a singsong tune of Honey I’m Home. But when his Dad greeted it was not with his normal smile but holding a letter in his hand. He gave it to his son without a word. Hawkeye noticing that the envelope was already he opened he just pulled out the letter, which read:

Mr. Benjamin Franklin Pierce,

You have been drafted into the war as a surgeon for a Mash unit please report to our office as soon as possible to go to South Korea.

After reading this to himself he looked up at his father to see if this was some kind of joke. But all he saw when he looked at his dad was sadness.

Hawkeye could only stare at the letter.

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Champlain, Illinois

“Don’t worry Honey, I am capable of putting a little children’s toy together” yelled a perturbed Henry Blake

“Now where does this piece go again” thought Henry

“Henry Dear- yelled his wife

“Now Sweetie I know what I am doing” yelled Henry

“No that’s not it, there is a letter in here for you” called his wife

“Ok be right in” Henry shouted back

Henry walked inside of his house he looked around. But he couldn’t find the letter, but then he noticed that it wasn’t laying on the table one of his daughters was holding letter in her hand and was trying to open it for her dad. Henry noticing what the return address was he told his daughter he could open. After reading the letter he saw that it said he had to leave for Korea in two days. His wife was very sad and so were his daughters, but he told them that he would be back as soon as he could and that no matter what he would never leave them. So he started to pack. Along with all the other people called to war. But he would soon meet other people just like himself

Fort Wayne, Indiana

“Stand up straight, Frank,” murmured Frank Burns to himself, adjusting his tie in the hallway mirror. He always liked to look authoritative, even if the only person home to see it was his wife, Louise.

“Frank!” Louise’s shrill voice echoed from the living room. “There’s a government letter here for you. Did you mess up the taxes again?”

Frank practically marched into the room, snatching the envelope from her hand. “I do not make mistakes on federal documents, Louise,” he snipped.

But as he sliced the envelope open and read the crisp, official words, his chest puffed out even further. He wasn’t being audited. He was being called to serve. A Major in the United States Army Medical Corps. To him, the draft notice wasn’t a tragedy like it was to the others—it was a promotion. A chance to show the world the military discipline and surgical genius of Frank Burns.

“Pack my bags, Louise,” Frank said proudly. “The Army needs me in Korea.”

Boston, Massachusetts

“You’re kidding me, right?” John “Trapper” McIntyre stared at the piece of paper in his hand as if it had just insulted his mother.

He was standing in the doctors’ lounge of his hospital, a half-empty cup of coffee in his other hand. The draft board had finally caught up with him.

“Korea?” Trapper muttered, tossing the paper onto the table. “I’m a thoracic surgeon, not a soldier. What am I supposed to do in a swamp halfway across the world?”

He thought about his wife and daughters at home. He thought about his comfortable practice. He shook his head, running a hand through his curly hair. There was no getting out of it. Uncle Sam had called, and Uncle Sam didn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. He drained the rest of his coffee, a cynical smirk slowly creeping onto his face. If he had to go to a war zone, he was going to make sure he brought his own brand of chaos with him.

Across the country, bags were packed. Tears were shed. Goodbyes were whispered at train stations, bus depots, and front porches.

A naive, animal-loving farm boy from Iowa.
A brilliant, reluctant surgeon from Maine.
A bumbling but warm-hearted doctor from Illinois.
A pompous major from Indiana.
And a wisecracking rebel from Boston.

None of them knew each other yet. They were simply names on government orders, strangers separated by thousands of miles and entirely different lives. But as the trains pulled out of the stations and the transport ships prepared to set sail, their paths were already locked on a collision course.

They were all heading toward a dusty, war-torn patch of land in South Korea called the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital.

The war had started. And their lives would never be the same.