Jump to content

The Real "Hawkeye Pierce" dies


802chrisg

Recommended Posts

Dr.John H. Davis, a longtime Burlington, Vermont doctor frequently credited as the model for an iconic Army surgeon (Hawkeye Pierce) died this week after a shot illness. He was 77.

 

Dr. Davis was a surgeon with Fetch Allen Health Care in Burlington, Vermont. He is remembered for his surgical care, teaching future doctors and helping Fletcher Allen raise its ability to serve as a high-level trama center. He is also remembered as the basis for Dr. Hawkeye Pierce in M*A*S*H*, the popular book, movie and tv series starring Alan Alda.

 

Davis, who was often was introdused at national conferences as "Hawkeye", had jokingly downplayed the media attention thrust on him by the author of the 1968 book, by Richard Hooker. Hooker, a former military surgeon, and Davis served together in the Korean War. Dr. Davis served in both WWII and Korea as a surgeon in a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting, but if he was 77 when he died and it's 2012 now, that means he was born in 1935, which means he was 10 when WWII was already over and only 19 at the end of Korea. Even if there is a typo on his age, if it's off by, say,10 years and he was actually 87, that would make him only 20 at the end of WWII and 29 at the end of Korea, ruling out being a qualified surgeon in WWII and at most only barely so at the very end of Korea.

 

Unless the reference is that he served in WWII, but not as a doctor, but was a surgeon in Korea, if barely, and both these only if he was not only 77 when he died.

Edited by Ron Bell
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting, but if he was 77 when he died and it's 2012 now, that means he was born in 1935, which means he was 10 when WWII was already over and only 19 at the end of Korea. Even if there is a typo on his age, if it's off by, say,10 years and he was actually 87, that would make him only 20 at the end of WWII and 29 at the end of Korea, ruling out being a qualified surgeon in WWII and at most only barely so at the very end of Korea.

 

Unless the reference is that he served in WWII, but not as a doctor, but was a surgeon in Korea, if barely, and both these only if he was not only 77 when he died.

 

97 years old. my mistake.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
×
×
  • Create New...