This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. M*A*S*Hs historic series finale aired almost 40 years ago. He wore a fishing hat with his green fatigues. Stiff condemns the decision to kill . Well reveal who they are in just a moment, so bear with us. He tells Freedman about a recent beach outing by a busload of camp staff. Then, Gene and I took the cast aside and I opened a manila envelope that contained the one-page last scene, telling them I had something I wanted to show them. Wayne rogers played the irreverent and often grouchy Trapper John from 1972 until 1975 when he left the show due to a contractual dispute. The current school board member and leader of the local NAACP office is a 29-year military veteran. The helicopters were returning from a training mission when they collided. But an unexpected twist of one short final scene was tacked onto the end of the episode, in which a choked-up Radar (portrayed by Gary Burghoff) intruded into a busy operating room to deliver the sad news that Col. Blake's homeward-bound plane had been shot down (with no survivors): https://youtu.be/E_RWAc1uvUQ He was kind, compassionate and a gentle giant because he was built like a tank. [14], In 2005, TV Land included this episode as part of its "Top 100 Most Unexpected Moments in TV History", ranking it number 15.[15]. An Army aviation safety team from Fort Rucker, Ala. is on site and currently conducting a thorough investigation into the accident. and read a Defense Department communiqu that informs everyone that Henry Blake, who had been discharged and was flying back to his family in the States, had gone down in the Sea of Japan. She retired from acting in 1998 after starring in Beach Movie but returned to the screen once again in 2019 in the obscure Christian film Play the Flute as the character Mrs. Kinkaid. ISBN 0-8109-8083-5 (p. 84). Caleb personified what is good about our nation and why we must still hope in what he (they) died for, Gore wrote in a testimony. The Groundbreaking Way MASH Let Its Beloved Henry Blake Die Written by: Jennifer Kathleen Gibbons He wasn't a military man. No, you're confusing two different characters. Antonio Planas is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital. (The producers of Dallas famously faced a knotty problem when they killed off Bobby Ewing after actor Patrick Duffy quit the series, then had to find a way to resurrect the character when Duffy rejoined the cast a year later.). He ended up writing a couple of episodes as well and even earned himself an Emmy Award nod for his writing skills. CBS Charlotte affiliate WBTV identified the two people killed as Jason. McLean [Stevenson, who played Henry Blake] was never better. And that's not good. Who died in MASH helicopter crash. But since her retirement, fans have been noticing Walters lack of public presence. Joshua Caleb Gore, a real-life Captain America who loved serving his country in the Army. The episode is notable for its shocking ending, in which the unit's amiable commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake (played by McLean Stevenson) receives an honorable discharge and leaves for home, but in the final scene is reported killed by enemy fire. There is a certain fascination with hearing about the stars lives on the screen, in newspapers, and in magazines. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. The crash comes less than a month after two U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopters collided during a routine training mission near the Kentucky-Tennessee border, killing nine soldiers.