9

Chapter 9: Vietnam or Bust: Potter, Charles, & Mulcahy, & How They Returned to Serve the 4077TH in the Vietnam War!

Within an entire year BEATLEMANIA had swept the good ol' U.S.A. resulting in a great frenzy of sorts! Both "A HARD DAY'S NIGHT" & "HELP!" played in movie theatres everywhere in AMERICA as we knew it! RADAR now a devoted BEATLES fan was grooving to their musical rhythms like, crazy, DADDY-O! But RADAR was also upset with the FORD MOTOR COMPANY which decided to take the GALAXIE 500 out of it's police-package line-up, and just use the CUSTOM and CUSTOM 500 for the next few years whilst the GALAXIE 500 would be an ordinary run-of-the-mill dealership showroom auto. But thanks to a little money which RADAR passed under the table to the local FORD dealership he was able to buy lots of GALAXIE 500 4-DR. SEDANS. Then he had them re-painted to match the current ITASCA COUNTY SHERIFF'S PATROL CARS as an extra added precaution! Of course, so long as the FORD MOTOR COMPANY didn't know a thing, they wouldn't have to worry about losing RADAR as a customer.

However, in VIETNAM with rising increases in wounded & dead AMERICAN SOLDIERS, Then U.S. PRESIDENT LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON decided to try & just re-organize the old 4077TH M*A*S*H unit in VIETNAM, but he figured it'd need some of the surgeons whom worked at the 4077TH in KOREA, but under advice of former PRESIDENT HARRY S. TRUMAN, JOHNSON was able to avoid re-calling FRANK BURNS back into action seeing as how MAXWELL SMART, AGENT 86 of CONTROL found out that FRANK was now involved with the Ku Klux Klan in FORT WAYNE, INDIANA. HAWKEYE, TRAPPER, & B.J. were far too busy running their lil' ol' clinic in GRAND RAPIDS, MINNESOTA. So that only left POTTER & CHARLES as the only surgeons left for now! However, MULCAHY was more than willing to once again resume the duties of 4077TH CHAPLAIN!

Now as for the rest of the new 4077TH crew there was MAJOR JEROME LITTLEFIELD, whom had finished medical & his residency at the IRELAND ARMY HOSPITAL in FORT KNOX, KENTUCKY before completing basic training there under the command of SGT. EVERETT BIRCHARD. Then it was onto FORT BRAGG in NORTH CAROLINA for his GREEN BERET training before he went into officer school to become a full-fledged gold oak-leafed U.S. ARMY MAJOR now transferring from the 5TH SPECIAL FORCES GROUP to the ARMY MEDICAL CORPS! LITTLEFIELD'S wife JULIE BLAIR LITTLEFIELD, whom was also at the rank of MAJOR due to her nursing capabilities would also be at the 4077TH as the new head nurse, while JEROME would become the new 4077TH chief-surgeon, with CHARLES as 2ND in command at the rank of a full-bird COLONEL! This allowed for POTTER to a BRIGADIER GENERAL in charge of the entire 4077TH, while MULCAHY got promoted to being a full-fledged golden oak leafed MAJOR, too! Other surgeons within the staff were as follows: CAPTAIN JAMES KILDARE, CAPTAIN BEN CASEY, & (former head of student health at the U.C.L.A. MEDICAL CENTER) ERIC CAMFORD!

After a lil' ol' going away party at the WHITE HOUSE in WASHINGTON, it was onto DA NANG, NA TRANG, SAIGON, & the entire wilderness of SOUTHEAST ASIA! Although, he was slightly worried about his church namely, THE CATTLEBREEDERS PENTECOSTAL CHURCH, HAWKEYE said to MULCAHY "Cheer up you old SKY PILOT. After all, BILLY GRAHAM & his young apprentice JIM BAKER are gonna be in charge until the young minister from that certain TEXAS BIBLE COLLEGE can fill in for while your in VIETNAM!?" MULCAHY replied "Well, HAWKEYE, I guess it cannot do too much harm, but I just know that when GOD told me to go to VIETNAM after showing that certain vision of my helping others by avenging wrongs made against them as soon as the war over there ends". RADAR said "JOHN, SHERMAN, CHARLES. Good luck over there in VIETNAM fellas!?" CHARLES replied "Keep the home fires burning, RADAR". POTTER said "Son. You just keep your young'uns healthy for all our sakes!" MULCAHY answered "As the MEXICANS always say 'VIYA CON DIOS' which is SPANISH for 'GO WITH, GOD', RADAR".