B.J. TALKING TO HAWKEYE, " I'LL SEE YOU BACK IN THE STATES.  I PROMISE JUST IN CASE I LEFT YOU A NOTE!"  SEE THE NOTE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE

 

 

passed one of the refugees, babies started to cry, and Hawkeye yelled at the mother to keep it quiet. They all new if the North Koreans heard the baby they might all be killed, so the mother quietly smothered the baby to death.

When Hawkeye got back to the 4077th he cracked up from all the killing and was sent to Seoul for examination by Sidney Freedman. Sidney worried about Pierce, and hounded him constantly to get him to talk about what was wrong. Pierce decided to talk to him so he could leave. He then told Sidney the whole story about the beach trip and what happened on the bus, except he told Sidney the baby was a chicken that wouldn't shut up. Then he just broke down crying and confessed the mother killed the baby. "A baby", he cried, "How could she kill a baby?"

While Hawk was in Seoul, B.J. got his orders to go home. He was so happy, he started packing. Before Hawkeye got back, B.J. had already left. He left in such a hurry he didn't have time to write a note for Hawk so he told Margaret to tell Hawkeye goodbye for him. When Hawkeye returned, he was unsure of himself and whether he could operate anymore or not? He felt even worse when he found out B.J. had left. "Is it the war that stinks or just me?" Hawkeye asked Margaret. "My best friend went home without so much as a damned note. Trapper did the same thing."

Yet B.J. never made it all the way home. When his replacement didn't show up they had to call him back. "I got as far as Guam, "he explained. "I'm sitting in this crummy Officers Club and a guy says, 'Are you Hunnicutt, the surgeon?' and I said, 'No, I'm Hunnicutt, the chaplain,' so he said, 'Well, chaplain, you better start praying for a miracle because your're going back to Korea to do surgery." That night in the OR the end of the war was announced over the PA, then they all started talking about what they would eat when they first arrived home.

When Hawk was still in the hospital, a tank had blundered into the camp and it began taking shells. So Father Mulcahy ran out to free the POW's, because he relized they would be killed out there in the open. After he got out there and opened the gate a shell exploded behind him and knocked him unconscious. It turned out he had only a mild concussion, but he had lost some of his hearing. He then made B.J. promise not to tell, because he would have to leave the orphans. In the mean time Charles, was having some trouble teaching a few POW's Mozart's Quintet. They had surrendered to him the day before when he was on his way to the latrine. Just after they had got it down pat, they were shipped out with the other POW's. Later surgery was interrupted by an announcement requesting a surgeon for triage. Charles gladly went out and tagged the wounded as usual. "What else do we have?" he asked a corpsman. "This POW, sir. Part of his chest is blown off. He was in the back of the truck when it was hit." Charles saw the man's face. It was one of his Chinese musicians-his eyes glassy and unfocused-he recoiled in horror. "What happened to the others?" he asked numbly. "He's the only one who made it this far," the corpsman said. It was indeed the end of the war for Charles Emerson Winchester III. "I've just discoverd I'll be head of Thoracic Surgery at Boston Mercy Hospital. My life will go on as expected. For me, music had always been a refuge from this miserable experience. Now it will always be a reminder."

Klinger announced he would marry Soon-Lee. a Korean girl who had been brought to the 4077 a few months earlier when she was caught carrying a carbine rifle. She had been proven innocent and stayed at the 4077 as a translator. She refused to go to Toledo until she found out if her family was dead or alive. So Klinger, the most unlikly person in the world to stay in Korea, was indeed staying, until they found her parents. There was a happy wedding and a celebration with all the members.

The next day, corpsmen began to pack up the camp for the last time. All the wounded were shipped out and the members were shipping out. Charles and Margaret were going to share a jeep, but Margaret had so much luggage there was no room. He then gave her a copy of Sonnets from a Portuguese and then kissed her hand goodbye. He then boarded a garbage truck for his ride out! Potter took Sophie for one last ride to the orphanage, where he was leaving her. "Well, boys," he said to Hawk and B.J., "it would be hard to call what we've been through fun, but I'm sure glad we went through it together. You always managed to give me a good laugh when I needed it". "We've been thinking about a little something to give you before you left," B.J. said. "It's not much," said Hawkeye, "but it comes from the heart." The two men then stood at attention and saluted their departing CO. Hawk then grabbed Margaret and gave her one of the longest kisses in the history of television. Lasting approximently 33.6 seconds. Hawkeye's chopper soon arrived. "Look, Beej, I know it's tough for you to say good-bye, so I'll say it. Maybe we'll see each other again, maybe not!! In any case, I want you to know how much you've meant to me." The men hugged. B.J. drove off on his motorcycle. Hawkeye lifted off in the chopper and looked down to see a farewell message written in stone.

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 Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen

Dwight David Eisenhower took office as president of the United States in January,1953.

 

In March, 1953, large prisoner exchanges began to take place, signaling that the two years of negotiations at Panmunjom had become a little more serious.  At the beginning of June, the UN and the Communists reached agreement on one of the stickiest remaining issues of debate- the repatriation of prisoners of war.  On Jult 12 , the United States and the Republic of Korea announced that they, too, had reached agreement, thus paving the way to the first truce.

 

At 10A.M. on July 27, 1953, men from each country that had fought in the Korean War signed the armistice.  At 10:12A.M., the job was finished.  The war officially ended at 10P.M. that night.

 

American troops knew the end was approaching by late spring.  They hoped to be home by July 4 for a real Independence Day.  The final weeks-and then days- were the most tense.  So many North Koreans surrendered that UN troops did not know how to feed, clothe, or shelter them.  Few wanted to be repatriated to a Communist regime.  Fighting grew more fierce as the end drew near.  More than ten thousand UN troops were killed while the final squabbling dragged on.  Some of the most savage acts of the war were committed in the last week of fighting.

 

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On the 4th of July, Colonel Potter decided to let serveral members of the 4077 take the day off for an oldfashioned celebration.  They went to the beach at Inchon.  Inchon was west of Ouijonbu, and most of the fighting was in Kum Soag, to the northeast.  It was a nice summer day and the beach trip seemed just the thing to break the tension.

 

On the way back to the MAHS unit, the bus stopped to pick up some refugees.  About a half a mile later, it stopped again, this time to pick GIs.

 

"We gotta get this bus into the bushes," one of the GIs said.  "There's an enemy patrol coming down the road.  Everyone get quiet.  Nobody make a sound until they've passed us."

 

The bus was hidden.  Inside, everyone grew nervous.  Each person sat on the edge of his seat, quietly breathing the tense air; terrified that each breath might be his last.  Suddenly, a refugee baby began to wail.

 

"Shhhh,"  Hawkeye hissed.

 

The child's mother was in despair.  She could not quiet the baby.  If its sounds attracted the North Koreans everyone could be killed.

 

Soundlessly, the woman smothered her child.

 

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