The lack of participation of black surgeons in the Korean War is a misrepresentation that has been deleted from history and inaccurately chronicled in popular culture. 5 The accomplishments of African American military medical personnel generally went unheralded in the initial period following desegregation of the US Armed Forces. 3,4 The character Oliver Wendell “Spearchucker” Jones, a neurosurgeon, who was first introduced in the novel, was subsequently written out of the series (“Germ Warfare,” the 11th episode of season 1) by the sitcom’s creator in an attempt to maintain historical accuracy based upon the long-held view that no black surgeons served during the Korean War. 1,2 His popular account of the fictional 4077th MASH gave rise to an Academy Award–winning film in 1970 (Best Adapted Screenplay plus 4 additional nominations) and subsequently to the popular and long-running television series M*A*S*H. Richard Hornberger, former army surgeon, writing under the pseudonym Richard Hooker, published the novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, based on his experiences as a military surgeon and a captain in the 8055th Mobile Army Surgery Hospital (MASH) during the Korean War. The publisher's final edited version of this article is available at J Natl Med Assoc
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