Final Chapter

Maj. Charles Winchester III wielded a cake knife Wednesday instead of a doctor’s scalpel. And Maj. Frank Burns celebrated with his wife, not “Hotlips” Hoolihan. But just like on TV, it was a little zany and a little sad when the U.S. military closed the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital at Camp Humphreys, South Korea, that inspired the movie “MASH” and the long-running television series of the same name. Members of the audience - which included actors from the hit TV series - wiped tears from their eyes as a color guard retired the unit’s flag. An Army band played the theme song from the TV show that immortalized the wisecracking but dedicated doctors and nurses who served at the front lines in the 1950-53 Korean War.