Part of My Maine Heritage

When people think of Maine usually the things that come to mind are lobster, pine trees, coast line, and Stephen King. Nothing against Stephen King, I do enjoy his work, but Maine actually has more of history than that. Especially when it comes to some of the famous people and various pop culture contributions to come out of Maine. Again don't get me wrong I like Stephen King and there are some days I love the reputation he's given the state about there being ghosts, monsters, supernatural creatures, and deranged loners in the woods that will kill you several different gorey ways. Anyway I've gone off topic.

What many people don't realize is that M*A*S*H came from Maine. I'm a HUGE M*A*S*H fan and enjoy flaunting this fact whenever possible. Dr. Richard Hornberger, who wrote under the pen name Dr. Richard Hooker, wrote the book M*A*S*H which inspired the movie and the series. He was from Breman, Maine and was a thoracic surgeon who practiced in Waterville, Maine.

He based the book on his experience at a M*A*S*H unit in the Korean War and the main character Captain Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce was modeled after himself. Although he never liked Alan Alda's protrayal of the character which is funny since that's who people think of when they think of Hawkeye Pierce.

Dr. Hornberger died of leukemia at 73 in November 1997.

Many people don't even realize that M*A*S*H was a book. I highly recommend the book if you can get your hands on a copy. If you think what Hawkeye and Trapper did on screen for highjinks were crazy they were toned down in comparison to what was done in text. For example, attempting to crucify and burn the protestant priest that was also on camp, but never mentioned in the movie and show. Oh yeah, things like that.
So I just wanted to take a moment to share a bit of pop culture trivia/heritage. See? Learn something new everyday.