Looking for MASH unit veterans and helicopter pilots

Thu Oct 25, 2007 2:42 am

I am looking for anyone that served in a MASH unit that is willing to be interviewed for an upcoming article. Thanks in advance.

Thu Oct 25, 2007 3:59 am

Perhaps the bloke in your avatar can help (runs away giggling)!

Not bad, an hour and seventeen minutes before you got your first useless reply!

Cheers,
Matt

Thu Oct 25, 2007 4:10 am

Ha Ha. I am sure that he could. I am not even sure where to begin to look for a veteran of these units.

Thu Oct 25, 2007 4:33 am

mustangdriver wrote:Ha Ha. I am sure that he could. I am not even sure where to begin to look for a veteran of these units.

How about your local VFW post and local hospital. I'm sure someone in there will have connections or POC's to talk to.

Thu Oct 25, 2007 6:18 pm

I knew a real "Hawkeye" A MASH surgeon from the Koprean War. Unfortunately he's passed. You may have a bit of a hard time finding the Doctors, as they are most likely in their 80's. I'll try to find a few more for you. I can pass along his stories as told to me. Anything in particular you looking for?

Thu Oct 25, 2007 6:31 pm

my friends father is a MASH veteran from Vietnam. I will try to get in touch with him if you want me to. But what should i tell him to do call you or something? And are the helicopter pilots you looking for do they need to be MASH as well? b/c i know a Vietnam helicopter pilot Mr Frank Cuddy jr who is a highly decorated retired marine Huey gunship pilot he also volunteered to be a door gunner after his tour as a pilot.

Thu Oct 25, 2007 6:54 pm

ANy and all of those would be great. I can do the interviews by phone, and would need like a half hour, more if they are willing to talk about more details. I will P.M. you guys. Thank you so much.

Thu Oct 25, 2007 7:33 pm

At the risk of offering the obvious...try:

Museum of Army Aviation, Museum of Naval Aviation...they may have lines on Vets or oral histories.

Also, ask John Slattery (or his successor...he may have retired by now) the curator of collections & history at the Helicopter Association International (a trade group) in Washington, D.C.

Also The American Helicopter Museum in Westchester, PA, and the Hiller Museum in California may have something.

Also the Sikorsky History Group might have some filkes on guys who flew H-5s & H-19s in Korea. Sikorsky is very proud of the helicopter's lifesaving history.

Likewise, Bell says that of the 20,000 troops evaced by helicopter in Korea, 85% were carried by H-13s and USMC HTLs.
While the Army and Navy had Hiller H-23s, I don't recall them seeing much evac use in Korea.

And last but not least, the Army Aviation Heritage Foundation should have something as well. www.armyav.org

Sorry but most of my stuff is on the helicopters themselves...especially Bells. I'd be interesting in reading what you come up with.

Last edited by JBoyle on Thu Oct 25, 2007 9:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Thu Oct 25, 2007 7:39 pm

Thankyou for the links, I will try. For as popular as the show was, finding real MASH unit info is pretty tough.

Thu Oct 25, 2007 7:48 pm

mustangdriver wrote:Thankyou for the links, I will try. For as popular as the show was, finding real MASH unit info is pretty tough.

If memory serves correctly, there were only two real MASH units.

There is also a scant history of them in the Time-Life book on helicopters...the silly book actually spends more time describing a H-19 trying to pick up a wrecked MiG for evaluation.