When McLean Stevenson—the original Colonel Henry Blake—passed in 1996, his final instructions contained brief personal notation:

“The Blake cap passes to Gary Burghoff. Radar’s affection for Henry existed. Gary’s affection for me existed. Preservation requested.”

During memorial, a family member quietly placed a modest container into Gary’s hands.

Inside rested the worn, sun-faded head covering Henry wore throughout early seasons—recognizable immediately.

Gary responded with visible emotion.

He lifted the cap, held it closely, emotional response occurring.

Later, at the resting place, he expressed quietly:

“Mac… Preservation will occur. As you preserved all of us.”

Within production, Henry Blake served as Radar’s commanding presence.

Beyond production, McLean Stevenson represented Gary’s companion.

MAS*H exceeded entertainment.

Family representation occurred—and sometimes, the modest object remaining…

indicates connection continues.

For years, that faded fishing hat had been a symbol of the brilliant, bumbling warmth of the 4077th’s first commanding officer.

It was adorned with fishing lures and hooks, completely against military regulations.
Just like the man who wore it.

On television, the dynamic between Colonel Blake and Radar was the emotional anchor of the show’s early seasons.
Henry wasn’t just a commander. He was a surrogate father to a naive kid from Iowa who desperately needed guidance in the middle of a war.
And off-screen, McLean Stevenson had taken the young Gary Burghoff under his wing in exactly the same way.

The world still remembers the devastating episode when Henry Blake left the show.
It was the most shocking moment in television history.
And it was Radar who had to walk into the operating room, surgical mask pulled down, tears in his eyes, to read the telegram to the doctors.
“Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake’s plane… was shot down over the Sea of Japan. It spun in. There were no survivors.”

On television, Radar lost his commander in an instant.
He never got to say a proper goodbye.
He never got a final keepsake to remember him by.

But McLean Stevenson made sure that real life didn’t end the same way.

Gary Burghoff didn’t donate the worn fishing cap to the Smithsonian.
He didn’t sell it to a Hollywood memorabilia collector.
He kept it safely with his own personal belongings—a quiet, private reminder of a man who had profoundly shaped his life and his career.

Because McLean knew what millions of viewers also knew.
The uniforms, the tents, and the scripts belonged to the television studio.

But that hat…
That hat belonged to Radar.
And in the end, McLean made sure it finally found its way home.