Happy 4th Of July And M*A*S*H Ties


For anyone who doesn't know, Radar O'Reilly from M*A*S*H is Ottumwa's fictitious hometown boy. We're mentioned n the very first sentence of the very first page of the original novel by Richard Hooker, giving our city a prominent place in the entire M*A*S*H series.


Meet Ottumwa, the convention and visitors bureau for Wapello County, teamed up with the Iowa Heartland History Connection for a new pair of exhibits featuring the history of the Korean War and the community’s ties to the M*A*S*H television show.


Meet Ottumwa’s portion of the exhibit gives visitors their own connection to Radar and the TV show. In addition to an Army-themed selfie station and one-of-a-kind memorabilia for purchase, read through all the Ottumwa mentions on the show, learn the background of real-life "Radar" Don Shaffer, and pick up a copy of the M*A*S*H Characters’ Hometown Tour. This map is an itinerary to visit 11 of the characters’ birthplaces, from coast to coast and across to Hawaii.


The exhibit at Iowa Heartland History Connection, Wapello County’s historical museum, will feature Korean War history, photographs from real M*A*S*H units, as well as trivia and souvenirs from the tv show. Look for M*A*S*H items available to purchase in the gift shop, and to top it all off, you can get your picture taken in Radar's bunk.


My very favorite part of our display is the wall of quotes about Ottumwa from the show. 

Hawkeye: It took Trapper and me a while to figure out what he was up to until we did a fluoroscope of one of his packages and found out he was mailing a Jeep home, piece by piece … Radar can’t wait until he gets his discharge and tells his mailman back in Iowa that he actually delivered a whole Jeep for him. He’ll probably have a retroactive hernia.



So come visit, have your Radar-themed picture taken, and learn even more about M*A*S*H.
Happy Independence Day!
 

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