September 17th will be the 50th anniversary of the classic television show M*A*S*H. It was first a book, published in 1968 by Dr. Richard Hornberger in collaboration with sportswriter W.C. Heinz, under the pen name Richard Hooker. The book became an Oscar winning movie in 1970. The award-winning and long running television series was first broadcast on September 17, 1972. One of my all time favorite books, movies and television programs, M*A*S*H is the fictional story of the 4077 Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) during the Korean War.
However, many people do not realize that the story was based on the real 8055th MASH which had Mississippi ties. Though a fictional story, it is based on Hornberger’s experiences while serving as a surgeon with the 8055th Army Mobile Surgical Hospital during the Korean War. When Capt. Hornberger served with it during 1951 and 1952 the unit had 25 doctors, 30 nurses and technical and supporting personnel numbering about 150. The commanding officer and chief surgeon was Major Henry Holleman, a doctor from Columbus.
During World War II Holleman served as a doctor with the medical detachment of the 314th Engineer Battalion, 89th Division, 3rd Army under General Patton. He was present at the liberation of the concentration camp at Ohordurf, Germany where he witnessed first hand the horrors of Hitler’s “Final Solution.” After the war he had a private practice in Columbus and served as commander of the Medical Detachment of the 31st Division Artillery Brigade, Mississippi National Guard.
Also serving with the 8055th was Dr. Agrippo Kellum of Tupelo, and Lt. Claude Lollar of Columbus, who was an administrative staff officer. Others from the Columbus area served, but I do not know their names.
According to Dr. Holleman, the idea for a MASH came out of the post World War II military medical studies. Its concept was to be a highly mobile surgical hospital in tents that would be located within three miles of the front lines and move with the battlefront. Severely wounded soldiers would be brought in by helicopter, drastically cutting down the time between injury and treatment.
The 8055th showed just how effective a MASH could be in saving lives. Dr. Holleman wrote in his autobiography, An Unbroken Chain, that during his one-year tour as commanding officer of the unit over 5,000 wounded were treated with a survival rate of 97 percent. Dr. Holleman had nothing but praise for the professionalism of the unit’s doctors, nurses and staff. I remember Dr. Holleman putting real names on characters portrayed in M*A*S*H, saying the main characters in the book and movie were mostly based on individuals or composites of individuals. Duke Forrest was based on Dr. Kellum and Col. Henry Blake was based on Dr Holleman.
At times the producers of the television show would call Dr. Holleman for suggestions about incidents he recalled that might make good television. One of his stories reminded me of one of the television episodes I watched. Holleman told of the time he and another officer were going to Panmunjon in a Jeep and took the wrong fork at an unmarked road junction. After a while they came upon some Marines in fortified foxholes. He said he stopped the jeep and asked the Marines where they were and was quickly told at the front, and only about 300 yards from the enemy lines. Holleman said they quickly got back in the Jeep and as they drove off the enemy “saluted” them with an artillery shell that exploded nearby.
The novel M*A*S*H opens in November 1951. Dr. Holleman had assumed command of the 8055th in September 1951. Hornberger and Kellum had arrived in November. The three doctors remained good friends after leaving the service and stayed in contact. In his forward to M*A*S*H Hornberger wrote of the real life MASH surgeons. He felt that they were “perhaps too young, to be doing what they were doing” but “achieved the best results up to that time in the history of military surgery.”
In real life, The 8055th MASH was actually on the cutting edge of trauma care medicine. The unit pioneered both triage procedures and vascular surgery at a trauma center. It also helped develop a way in which to stabilize damaged kidneys until a patient could be transferred to the only Army hospital in Korea with an “artificial Kidney,” the prototype of present day dialysis.
Dr. Holleman served a one year tour of duty and returned home. He had been home only six months when he received a letter from the Royal Awards Department London, England, that Queen Elizabeth II had awarded him the Order of the British Empire in appreciation of the care given British soldiers by the 8055th MASH when he commanded it. At an awards ceremony at the British Embassy in Washington Dr. Holleman received a medal and the award document signed by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.
Rufus Ward is a local historian.
Rufus Ward is a Columbus native a local historian. E-mail your questions about local history to Rufus at [email protected].
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