“They would bring in an 19 year old boy. He would look at me and ask: ‘How am I doing nurse?’” We always smile, lean over and kiss them on the forehead and say ‘Just fine soldier, your doing just fine.’” They look at us and say “I was just checking.” And then they die. Later, we break down in our tents and cry. But not in front of the boys. Never in front of the boys.” Retired US Army Nurse
@@ddjj8 my dad's uncle. About two hours before the cease fire. He was hit in the arm, that took a chunk of meat out of it. He lived. Thanks for all the medical staff.🌹❤️
@@sidcolwell7479 brother I'm not happy to hear what happened to him but I am happy to hear that he lived. I am a veteran myself so anytime I get a story like this it hits my heart very hard. Your dad's uncle has the utmost respect from me and I'm sure many others salute to him and all of his family members like yourself. ❤️🙏
As a combat medic from Vietnam I returned home after my 3rd tour of duty 1969. I had a difficult time trying to adjust to civilian life, especially after Combat. To this day I Still don't know, did I do everything, to the Best of my Skills, to Save any lives? When MASH aired on T.V. I discovered, through their stories of situations, I wasn't alone. They taught me to gather as much information about the Vietnam War and ingest as much as possible. In 1984 I was able to go on the Set of MASH, through a friend from work, and meet the cast and crew. A Bucket-List moment.
The character Frank Burns wasn't allowed to be anything more than one-dimensional. It's why Larry Linville left the show; he felt he'd done everything with the character that could be done.
The character of Frank Burns represents not only bad officers in real life, but bad NCOs and leadership in general. They brown-nose and grovel their way through the military. When left with any sort of authority, they enact useless orders just because they can. Frank Burns couldn't have been a better representation of those types of service members. And if you show them any kindness in times of weakness, they treat you as a problem because you've seen them in such a state, which makes you "a threat to their authority."
Charles, as Dr Winchester, rich, arrogant, but in truth, the arrogant rich Bostonian did not want others to see what a soft touch he was. That is the level of brilliance that actor David Stiers performed at. No one could have done this scene better.
My favorite character...He had one episode where He obtained a bunch of Toys, and Chocolate for the Orphans Father Mulcahey looked after with another Korean Preist. He(Winchester) begged the Korean Preist not to let anyone know that He was the one delivering the gifts for Christmas.
"Please, I have to know!" "I smell bread." Is quite possibly my favorite exchange of dialog in the whole series. Simple, but absolutely heart wrenching.
In that moment the dying soldier had returned home, to a time when he was a boy and could smell the bread his mother was baking in the oven at their house. He had gone back to when life was perfect.
As a kid watching M*A*S*H I never appreciated just how brilliant a performer David Ogden Stiers was. Decades later it's plain as day that his acting was second to nobody.
MASH is the only show I can think of that kept making cast changes yet actually got better. Out with Colonel Blake, in with Colonel Potter. Out with Trapper John, in with BJ. Out with Frank Burns, in with Charles. They were replacing caricatures with real people and it was such an upgrade to the show. Kudos to the writers and the actors for making it work so well.
Always was a Winchester fan. Just his mannerisms and humor was really a great change from the slapstick stuff of Frank Burns. Same for Col. Potter. Preferred him to Col. Blake. Trapper was ok. BJ was better
@@moeball740 Well said and I warmly agree. The only other points I would raise in connection to your considered and thoughtful reply is that it was a great show even when it had the problem of scripts treating the more cartoonish caricatures. Those actors who played those older roles were also terrific. I think especially so considering the fact that they had the problem you pointed out, dealing with characters with less depth made their job arguably harder.
Actually its a well known sign of a stroke or a seizure in your temporal lobe and from the dying we can see the actor portray, it closely resembles someone suffering from one of the two (The rapid jerks and the lack of some of his senses),
Sad tale, I'm sure he was a good boy, wanting to join the armed forces and seek a bit of adventure along the way, doing his bit for his country, only the good die young.
Having just recently lost my grandmother, she remembered her husband, and passed away a few days later. My condolences and prayers for you and your family
My grandmother had a stroke and was bedridden for weeks before she passed away, during this time she only spoke gibberish. The day before she died she woke up and was able to recognize everyone and was actually able to speak to us. The next morning she woke up back in her stroke like state and she passed later that day.
It was the same for my grandmother too. She was really bad off when she was placed in the hospital and heven though it was non verbal she did acknowledge who I was when I visited her for the last time.
My father went that way at 88 died from dementia… The last two days how is life he was able to speak to me it was like having my father Back.. on those last days.. what a terrible way to go…
He was on an episode of _Star Trek the Next Generation_ as well, playing a brilliant scientist who is from a society where they must end their life when they reach 60 (I think that was the age). Lwaxana Troi (Deanna Troi's mother, played by Majel Roddenberry the wife of Gene Roddenberry the creator of Star Trek) falls in love with him and finds out about this tradition and tries to convince him to ignore it. Stellar acting on both of their parts, honestly. It is called "Half a Life" and was from season 4, episode 22. One of the finer-acted episodes of the whole franchise as far as I'm concerned.
Oh he always had. The man was never truly a heartless or emotionally distant robot, just the pretentious, condescending snob his social circle had taught him to be!
@@NiVi192 But he did have a level of class and dignity that sustained him, even in the depths of the war. When the man who could secure his escape to Tokyo assaulted Houlihan, Winchester revealed the man was lying, and that he would never lie to protect anyone at the expense of another's career. When Hawkeye was writing out his will during one of his stays near the front, he recognized this in Winchester and promised Winchester his own bathrobe... "Purple is the color of royalty."
@@karazor-el6085 I don't think I ever saw the episode about the escape to Tokyo ... dang, I really have to buy the series and watch it beginning to end!
Best Christmas episode ever - "for it to be a true act of charity, the donor must remain anonymous" - a side of Charles you don't usually see, especially when he lets everyone else think he's a selfish, greedy person when he actually isn't. He realizes the importance of doing the right thing for its own sake, not because others might praise you for it. That's a lonely road to walk. Only Klinger knows what's really going on and a bond is forged between Charles and Max because of it. Truly a great episode, writing and acting.
Yes, with the Lord. When my wife's mother passed, the previously passed sister of the mom welcomed her to the Banquet, she was telling her granddaughters.
I'm a paramedic, I've seen to many die in the past 30 years. One thing I have noticed, everybody seemed happy and at peace with what was going on. Young and old alike
In the final moments doubt, sorrow, fear vanish. Your nerves and therefore pain starts to shut down. Perhaps it is shock, or your brain failing. All I can say is I'm describing my situation, and it would have been so easy to just let go.
@@crystalwagner5993 My uncle was at my grandfather's bedside at Grandpa's death and from what I heard Grandpa - who was conscious right up to the end - showed no fear at all. I think part of it was that he came from a culture (Central European and he was born in 1907) in which death was an accepted and natural part of life. Grandpa's most common comment was "Sooner or later ... everybody dies." It sounds callous but it's true. They didn't try to hide it or pretend it didn't exist or that you could somehow get around it.
Not even in the same category as a person but my dog's kidneys had failed and he soldiered on as long as he could before I had to make that last decision. It was explained what would happen even though it wasn't my first time. She gave him the saline to make sure everything was in order, the sedative and as she actually began the final one, he raised his head off one of my hands to look at me one more time eye to eye, his eyes glazed over and his head slowly went back onto my hand. The vet said she hadn't seen that, usually when she starts the shot, the animal just stops breathing. I suppose it was his way of saying goodbye with just one more look. I don't even know why I posted this, but I decided to leave it.
What a lovely moment that tells everyone-yes animals have souls. Dogs had no reason to come to our campfires, hunt with us and accept what we give them, learn what we want to teach them. That’s all the more reason to love them back.
i dread that day. my dog means more to me than almost anything else in my life. i know that one day i will have to say goodbye. but i dont know how im going to live through it.
@@stevenmcdonnell2139 I can sympathize with that. I have lost and broken my heart to pets more times than I care to remember. I remember each one and all were special. I will see them at the Rainbow Bridge and we will continue our journeys together always.
Winchester...after all the years of watching MASH, I have been able to see the depth of his emotional connection with his fellow man. The final episode did it for me when he worked with the Chinese musicians and how he acted when they died... Winchester is probably the most human of all the other characters combined.
Without question. Winchester loses Mozart in that final episode. He can no longer listen to his favorite composer. Contrast that with BJ's "loss". BJ has to come back to the war for an extra month...poor baby....
"My life will go on pretty much unchanged....with one exception. For me, music has always been an escape. Now it will only be....a reminder." -Charles Emerson Winchester III
@@IamRegulator The most painful story line in the finale: Charles loses the one thing that gave him solace. Personally I imagine that his love for music returns and that one day he is even able to listen to the Mozart Clarinet Quintet again. Perhaps Charles even founds a Doctors orchestra in Cape Cod, that he of course conducts.
Stiers was the best actor on the show hands down. Everytime I watch this, his performance brings me to tears. Just a phenomenal actor, and by all accounts, a wonderful kind man.
I saw the clip yesterday where he helped a young private who stuttered and was being bullied. He is very kind to the young man, built up his self-esteem, and gave him his copy of Moby Dick. When the soldier asks him why he does this, he doesn't answer, but later, you see him alone in his tent, listening to a tape letter from his sister. And she stutters.
Charles had to struggle to find the strength to walk away from his quest to understand death. It was leading him straight to madness and he finally realises that in this moment, and chooses to just walk away.
@@thecowboy9698 He probably never let it show. Most of Charles's emotional moments in front of others were about something that made him happy or relieved. He's not someone to show weakness or pain. In the episode where he got hooked on painkillers he held it in until he literally couldn't anymore
It was the right choice. The show moved from being mainly a comedy to a drama, with comedic moments. Frank Burns wouldn’t have fit. And people like Frank, who seemed all to real, don’t change, or they just become worse. So Charles character was perfect for the way the show grew
Frank Burns would never have had a moment like this. Larry Linville was a fine actor but Winchester brought a class and gravitas to every scene that Burns could never touch.
Frank couldn't have a moment like this. Charles could go back to being what he was after this. It would have changed Frank's whole character, retroactively even.
The writers would have had to do a lot of work to bring Frank's character up to this level. They managed to turn Margaret around but I think she had the potential right from the start. Frank unfortunately was 100% a caricature ... right from the start.
@@mnirwin5112 it aggravates me so much that Frank never got that chance. The closest we had to any actual Humanity from him was the episode when Margaret decided to start seeing someone behind Frank's back and marry them, and he turns into a state of blissful happiness and passive aggressiveness for half an episode. I badly wanted Frank to develop over one of the series', but he never did. The most we did get out of Frank was the creation of the Officers Club.
@@mnirwin5112 Margaret was a great nurse... Frank was an incompetent doctor... her character flaws were also strengths. She loved the army, patriotism, soldiers, and she was sexy as hell. She fell for Frank because he said patriotic things. He however was a coward, while she was very brave.
From everything I've heard Larry was a intelligent and kind man everyone liked. He was a good actor but didn't have the screen charisma the Alan Alda or Stiers did but I (even as a kid) wished they had developed him more and made him less of a joke
As I sit here watching this, my Mom is in her room. Lying in her bed. 13 months ago she was diagnosed with stage 4 lower esophageal cancer. Her oncologist said she had about a year. She stopped eating 2 days ago. She has been asleep for a day and a half now. The video hit me pretty hard.
I'm so sorry for what you are going through. It is hard to watch a parent die. I hope your mom is being kept free of pain and that her final moments here are gentle and peaceful.
DOS was one of the most underrated actors ever. He could do it all-- character work, musicals, drama, comedy, classical theater, the list goes on. Roam in Paradise, Maestro.
@jmboyd65 it was fantastic to see the writers give his character depth with scenes like this, and the one where he defends the patient who stutters, to then reveal his sister also stutters.
Charles came off as snooty and aloof but perhaps that was his way of dealing with the hell that is war. When you see how his character developed, some of the gestures towards others you knew that deep down he was a good soul.
He was actually was that snooty and aloof when he first was assigned there. He grew up with a silver spoon, and had a cushy job in thoracic surgery at the army hospital in Tokyo. I think you are right that maintaining that persona was part of his shield to deal with the stress and horror of their situation. The other being his love of music. Of all the characters at the end of the series i felt the worst for him. He came out of the war a shell of the man he had been.
He was a Major. an officer and gentlemen. he believed that not only should a doctor be professional but as an officer a gentlemen too. He also had a family name to live up to, the Winchesters which came from wealth so he had a very proper upbringing. the up-close horror of war may have made him a better man and mellowed his views on those that were rough around the edges but he always respected intelligence and a good heart. He didn't get along with Hawkeye and B.J. when he first arrived because his first impression of them is that they were uncaring clowning drunkards that had no respect for the chain of command and no manners or tact. He thought they didn't earn their ranks and that their actions would cost lives... it wasn't until he saw how serious they were in the operating room and how they showed respect for colonial Potter and how they treated soldiers that would come to the 4077 that he mellowed on them and understood it was how they cooped with the horror of war.
One of the best episodes about Charles is when he first gets to the 4077 and is told that he has to work much faster than he is accustomed to working ... basically do just enough to save the soldiers' lives and forget the time-consuming finer points of surgery. At the end of his next OR session, he comes out, sits down, leans forward, and puts his head in his hands ... and the great, confident, pompous Charles Emerson Winchester is having his moment of doubt, not knowing if he can do what's now being expected of him. Of course, he soon makes the necessary adjustment, but at that prior moment of seeming defeat, neither the viewer nor Winchester knows if he will. Thank you, Mr. Stiers.
Unlike Hawkeye, who liked to make sure the whole camp knew about his good deeds, Charles kept his compassion and good work to himself and sadly, the rest of the camp mostly saw a snobbish elitist.
Klinger knew. He overheard Charles arguing with a man outside the holiday tent. Charles had donated candy to orphans, and was appalled the man he entrusted to give it to them had sold it on the black market, until it was explained the money would buy them rice and cabbage for a month of meals.
I think they knew. If not before, then when he backed Margaret vs. the colonel attempting to defame her. The colonel promised to bring Charles back to Tokyo in exchange for supporting the lie.
And Charles waited with Hawkeye while Hawkeye was waiting to see if his dad was okay. There were times the others saw it. And Potter chose to include him in his Tontine and referred to him as a friend with the rest. So there was an appreciation there for him along with everyone else.
Over the years of watching MASH I began to really dislike the episodes where Alan Alda was given free rein - where he was director or where it was just all about Hawkeye. They seemed so sanctimonious, so lecturing, I didn't like them at all. But the rest hold up very well - the ones with real plots and characterisation. Overall, I agree, a great series.
To Charles Emerson Winchester III, you beautiful, condescending ass. Your elegance in the face of brutality says more about your heart than it does your social status. Godspeed, Major. Godspeed, David Ogden Stiers.
I remember this episode ...Westchester had a near death experience and was trying to prove that what he experienced was real and he went to the front to talk to dying soldiers and he gave up after meeting this young man....he didnt ask questions after that
There are many ways to interpret the dying soldier's final words, "'I smell bread...'" but the final image in that scene perhaps gives the audience a clue. Winchester leaves the aid station but before doing so, takes off the cap he'd been wearing which still has the bullet hole in it. He presses the hole through the hook, leaving it behind.
I was an Army Nurse. This scene was truth. We saw so much death we could smell it. We could walk in a room and smell this unexplainable sweet smell and know death was upon the patient. Sometimes I can still feel the cold that would creep from the extremities up. I'm glad I'm retired.
Me too. I was just a kid whenI started watching MASH in the ‘70s. These episodes have deeper layers of meaning now. I am so glad MASH’s popularity has endured!
I think his character had a real connection to humanity be at art or food good friends good drink he had a good connection to the things that really mattered not so much to the petty shenanigans that don't
His snobbery was real and was from his upbringing. He used that and his culture to try and shield himself from the horrors he was in. But in the end, the pain of those around him, the never ending tragedies made it impossible to tune out other people. And he began to confront himself and see others as his equal. In the end, many of the things he used to shield himself, became a reminder of those horrors. His character is at loss when the war ends. What is he going back too? How can he just pick up his life, after what has happened to him?
A fine peice of writing "I smell bread" then he passes away. The whole scene tugged at my heartstrings. Grew up with MASH still one of finest shows ever screened
I love this episode. It brings an entire new depth to Charles' character that we don't often see. On the surface he is snobby and egotistical but in this episode we see the real man behind the mask. Especially the revelation about his brother! 😭
OK, that hurt. The more so because I know that there are thousands upon thousands of doctors, nurses and soldiers out there that have their own version of this event in their memory.
One of many great scenes in MASH. This one hits hard as well as the Christmas episode were they try to keep a soldier alive long enough so he wouldn't die on Christmas. Even the earlier slapstick episodes were great.
¨Then up spoke brave Horatius the captain of the gate. Death cometh for all men upon this Earth sooner or late.¨ Even posh aristocrats like Winchester are humbled like the rest of us. Winchester's character grew tremendously by the series end.
One of my favourite poems when I was at school. I came for the essays and stayed for the poems. "...And how can man die better/Than facing fearful odds/For the ashes of his fathers/And the temples of his Gods"
I have watched MASH almost whole life and I am still often surprised how great this show really was! In fact it is one of the few TV sitcoms that actually got better over the years.
I hated this show when I was a kid; it just seemed so boring to me. But, I started to watch it in my 30s, and I was like, "DUDE! This show is awesome!" Then, Charles Emerson Winchester the Third, Colonel Potter and B.J. Honnicutt came on the show, and it got even better!
Alex- It was a time when television had only 12 channels and big budgets. The writers were top notch. There were so man good shows back then. This was also the era that produced All in the Family, Good Times, The Jeffersons, Chico and the Man, Sanford and Son, and One Day at a Time.
Benjamin Franklin, BJ, Maxwell, Charles Emerson, Walter Eugene, Sherman Tecumseh, Margaret, Francis John Patrick, Henry Braymore, Franklin Delano Marion, John Francis Xavier. On behalf of a 25yr. old Canadian, I thank you for making me cry needlessly. My uncle was an army surgeon who was deployed in Afghanistan back in 2008 and held the hand of a dying US Marine whom he operated for over 2 hours. Until today when I ask him about it, he cries saying the words "please tell the old man up there that I was with you til the end." Those were his last words to the dying Marine he tried saving.
No, you aren't crying needlessly. You are crying because you, like many of us, have the need to because of what we've experienced. Cry until you can't, and then cry some more. That is what it takes to stay a sane human in the face of some of the things that happen. Bless you, and bless your father, may peace come to both of your souls.
I do love this scene and episode… the development of the Winchester character is one of the best things about the later years of MASH…. A truly 3-dimensional portrayal by D Ogden Stiers… great actor! I cannot recall a TV show that replaced important characters ( like a Burns, Trapper John, or Blake) with equally memorable, unique and in many ways better …
sad to say but simply brilliant acting from all cast and crew. sad time, just thank you to all of you for sharing what my father went through but never shared, ever. ever. god bless for every human involved from all sides. my father said it was just not right. god bless you all from northern Wisconsin, USA
I use to watch this show a lot when I was a teenager. Even though I knew this scene was emotional and significant, it didn't hit home for me until I'd lost my grandmother 6 years ago. She died at my parents home around her family. At that point she couldn't speak and I just kept wondering if she could see something or hear anything beyond this world. I'd never been afraid of death until now and I feel guilty for it. So I remember all the good times I had with her.
Charles started out smug, pompous, entitled and rather a dick. The horrors of war ground that away and he became a person you would want as a friend. Frank was a cartoon and never changed. Charles was half cartoon in the beginning and changed profoundly. He was broken in the last episode when the Korean band he had trained were killed. He found the strength in himself to not give up.
Once Charles was transferred out from a hospital in Tokyo in order for a general to welsh on his gambling debt to Charles, Charles saw the war on the ground in Korea. It was a culture shock to Charles.
This scene is just perfect....... Winchester was well rounded and a flawed character..... He was played to perfection by David n I loved him by the end of the run.... This scene made me love him all the more ❤️
Wow what a scene. Charles knew he couldn't save him so he did what he could, held his hand and was there for him as he died! Frank Burns never would have done that. Charles started out as a pompous jerk, but man what a change. Another good episode was when a wounded soldier had a stutter and Charles tried to help him and stood up for him. Cause his sister had a stutter as well.
Charles was a pompous jerk, but underneath that he always had a heart and was a truly good person. He filled the foil role like his predecessor but in many other ways he was Frank's opposite.
I remember watching the last episode of MASH with my husband.i miss this show for its honesty,humor and real life characters.MASH would not have been the same without each character and the fine actors who portrayed them
Charles learned humility. Only Margaret´s connections got him the post as chief of surgery at Boston General. Then, thanking Colonel Potter and hoping he was half the leader Potter was. Charles leaves the 4077th as a front seat passenger on a garbage truck. He rode away with dignity.
I agree! MASH was many things and often was caught up in episodes typecast and scripted in various forms of simple comedy....but every once in a while...and this scene is a testament that it could also be brilliant! Anyone who has ever gone through a life passing experience will tell you that what is portrayed here is sometimes very very real!
Frank Burns and Winchester were both equally amazing for what they had to offer in the show. I won't hold any one higher that the other because I respected both actors immensely for what they brought to MASH.
This show would come one right after my sisters and I would get home from elementary school, we started out not liking it but learned to love it. Great show. Moving performance.
The acting and writing on this series was brilliant. Dealing with death and Winchester's curiosity of that event on a prime time show? Riveting drama married to classic comedy.
Charles was almost always portrayed as a smug self righteous character...and I loved watching him evolve into someone that truly became grounded through the brutality of war...as seen in the very last episode of MASH
I was a kid in the 70's when this show was on, my dad watched it a lot. My family wasn't big on censoring anything, life happens and you had to deal with it. But even as a kid, I understood the reality of this show, How brutal it was and how heart wrenching it was. Moments like this and when Colonel Blake died, effected me, even at about 10 years old and had never lost anyone close, You could feel it in the scene
This just made me cry. Every time I see this clip it makes me cry, every time, without fail. I loved MASH, it was the only show my dad and I could agree on when I was a kid. It was the only time we didn’t butt heads over, happened with my oldest boy too. What is it with teenage boys and their fathers? I’ve always figured it was the whole Alpha dog thing.
I’ve known people like this. I was asked to assess an instructor, once. He was a Vet, and always portrayed himself as a tough guy. I saw through it. The question was asked, and I said, “He is a big Teddy Bear.”
I served in a battalion aide station with a person much like Winchester. LTC Sam Barnes, US Army, Surgeon , Vietnam. Probably the best person I ever worked for and with shoulder to shoulder . Winchester reminds me alot of him, and all that he was as Winchester grew and matured. Winchester wasn't broken, he grew. Stronger than before and willing to go home to serve in the capacity he knew best. As a surgeon who knew he had what it takes to help save lives. So, LTC Sam Barnes , if you are alive, and if you ever do read this , I remember you ,and I will never , ever forget you . D. Blevins US Army 9th Infantry Division 18D30 ARVN 72-75
The first time I saw this, I cried and that was many years ago. I just cried again. Medics and doctors made sure these young people didn’t pass alone. It didn’t matter what conflict.
I was in my teens and twenties when I first watched MASH. Really affected me deeply. Just this week decided to revisit the show; this short scene came up on my queue. Remember it like it was yesterday. Was at the bedside when my sister and parents took their last breaths. Even though this young soldier was a stranger to Winchester, his reaction captures both the desire to comfort and allay fears of the dying person and the intense curiosity to know what it feels like when to die. I almost drowned in the ocean at 25; knew I would not be able to get in on my own if someone didn't hear my final plea. I just remember thinking in disbelief, "This could be my death." This poor young soldier conveyed the shock and horror of realizing "this is it."
There was alot of sexism which wouldn't fly today, and while our 'heroes' tried for the high ground plenty of racism. Then there are clips like these who speak to all humanity. A young doctor in Brussels is weighing death right now. So is the WHO team in sub-saharan Africa in a desperate war against 100 diseases at once. Or the Chinese doctor looking at the latest COVID variant and working towards it's annihilation.
Great acting David Stiers! You were SO good! and You will always be remembered for you contribution, not only on MASH, but for all the other parts you played!
@@christopherjackson3455 You're making my point. Charles HAD music to cope and it was ripped from him. Hawkeye had humor to cope and it was never ripped form him. There was only one time he placed it to the side and that was during a eulogy. I will agree that Charles grew more as a man, instead of a 'gentleman', than any others.
I always felt he was the one who took away the most from it. He came into the war a rich, cultured, sheltered man with an aristocratic, self-entitled air, and left with a humanity he never, ever would have found from within his upper-crust upbringing had he never left Boston. He became....more.
Winchester gets such a bad wrap bt the concern and sadness he shows this patient proves he is a good Dr. I wish Hawkeye and others had of walked in at that moment saw Winchester crying and holding the patients hand as he passed away, they would all be silent and acknowledging the moment they ALL have experienced with patients, and realized Winchester is just as human and compassionate as they are ☯️
Love MASH…it is great scenes like this which showed the realness to it all. Mostly comedy but set in a War Zone. The theme song depicts suicide. What a depiction of living when surrounded with so much death. It was a prime time TV education.
The darkest mercy is that in our final moments, when are bodies know they are finished, their last effort is to give us comfort as we leave. In this case, fresh bread.
Every character added something instrumental, even vital. When they leave, a new character changes the chemistry, but I'm not sure that always means that one actor/character is better than another. Just that they add a new element.
The idea that heaven smells like fresh baked bread is one of the most comforting ideas I've ever heard...
His Mom or Grandmother is waiting for him with Bread . God called him home.
“They would bring in an 19 year old boy. He would look at me and ask: ‘How am I doing nurse?’”
We always smile, lean over and kiss them on the forehead and say ‘Just fine soldier, your doing just fine.’” They look at us and say “I was just checking.” And then they die. Later, we break down in our tents and cry. But not in front of the boys. Never in front of the boys.” Retired US Army Nurse
Thank you.❤️🌹
Much respect and thank you!!🙏😢❤️
my wife, a long term care nurse always said, "nurses cry later"
@@ddjj8 my dad's uncle. About two hours before the cease fire. He was hit in the arm, that took a chunk of meat out of it. He lived. Thanks for all the medical staff.🌹❤️
@@sidcolwell7479 brother I'm not happy to hear what happened to him but I am happy to hear that he lived. I am a veteran myself so anytime I get a story like this it hits my heart very hard. Your dad's uncle has the utmost respect from me and I'm sure many others salute to him and all of his family members like yourself. ❤️🙏
As a combat medic from Vietnam I returned home after my 3rd tour of duty 1969. I had a difficult time trying to adjust to civilian life, especially after Combat. To this day I Still don't know, did I do everything, to the Best of my Skills, to Save any lives?
When MASH aired on T.V. I discovered, through their stories of situations, I wasn't alone. They taught me to gather as much information about the Vietnam War and ingest as much as possible.
In 1984 I was able to go on the Set of MASH, through a friend from work, and meet the cast and crew. A Bucket-List moment.
I’m sure you did the best you could do with all that you had.
That is amazing to go to the set of MASH and meet the cast!
Not trying to be negative but wasn't the show done in 1983?
Rest easy brother! You did your best! That is all anyone can ask!
@@devonalomar9012 Yes, finished in Feb 1983
Moments like these prove beyond a doubt Winchester was a far better character and member of the 4077th than burns could have ever been.
The character Frank Burns wasn't allowed to be anything more than one-dimensional. It's why Larry Linville left the show; he felt he'd done everything with the character that could be done.
@@dhunter1133 that is the truth and considering that Larry linville did an amazing job!
The character of Frank Burns represents not only bad officers in real life, but bad NCOs and leadership in general. They brown-nose and grovel their way through the military. When left with any sort of authority, they enact useless orders just because they can. Frank Burns couldn't have been a better representation of those types of service members. And if you show them any kindness in times of weakness, they treat you as a problem because you've seen them in such a state, which makes you "a threat to their authority."
He is my favorite character
Linville left because he wanted Frank to have some character development but in 5 seasons he never changed
Charles, as Dr Winchester, rich, arrogant, but in truth, the arrogant rich Bostonian did not want others to see what a soft touch he was. That is the level of brilliance that actor David Stiers performed at. No one could have done this scene better.
My favorite character...He had one episode where He obtained a bunch of Toys, and Chocolate for the Orphans Father Mulcahey looked after with another Korean Preist. He(Winchester) begged the Korean Preist not to let anyone know that He was the one delivering the gifts for Christmas.
"Please, I have to know!"
"I smell bread."
Is quite possibly my favorite exchange of dialog in the whole series. Simple, but absolutely heart wrenching.
In that moment the dying soldier had returned home, to a time when he was a boy and could smell the bread his mother was baking in the oven at their house. He had gone back to when life was perfect.
As a kid watching M*A*S*H I never appreciated just how brilliant a performer David Ogden Stiers was. Decades later it's plain as day that his acting was second to nobody.
I think it's tied with Hawkeye
MASH is the only show I can think of that kept making cast changes yet actually got better. Out with Colonel Blake, in with Colonel Potter. Out with Trapper John, in with BJ. Out with Frank Burns, in with Charles. They were replacing caricatures with real people and it was such an upgrade to the show. Kudos to the writers and the actors for making it work so well.
Always was a Winchester fan. Just his mannerisms and humor was really a great change from the slapstick stuff of Frank Burns. Same for Col. Potter. Preferred him to Col. Blake. Trapper was ok. BJ was better
The future burn notice actor was far better. This is an award winning performance
@@moeball740 Well said and I warmly agree.
The only other points I would raise in connection to your considered and thoughtful reply is that it was a great show even when it had the problem of scripts treating the more cartoonish caricatures.
Those actors who played those older roles were also terrific. I think especially so considering the fact that they had the problem you pointed out, dealing with characters with less depth made their job arguably harder.
"I smell bread." A beautiful random memory to help you along your way.
Probably baked by his Mother.
He is smelling heaven,the bread of life
Actually its a well known sign of a stroke or a seizure in your temporal lobe and from the dying we can see the actor portray, it closely resembles someone suffering from one of the two (The rapid jerks and the lack of some of his senses),
@@hickory45acp31 yes, unfortunately I’ve heard this before. The patient smells bread or toast
Geez, now I want one of my last memories to be of me playing Legend of Zelda with my mom, teaching me how to read. :'(
R.I.P. David Ogden Stiers (1942-2018).
The solder smelled homemade bread.He made it home.😔
My father held a 18 year old kid that was hit by a mortar until he died his last words were “ tell my mom I was a good boy”
Prophetic
how do you go on in life after that.your dad is a really good man,really good
😢😢😢
Prophetic, yet haunting
Sad tale, I'm sure he was a good boy, wanting to join the armed forces and seek a bit of adventure along the way, doing his bit for his country, only the good die young.
Just reading that caught me off guard enough that I teared up.
Just before my grandmother died of dementia, her brain worked again just enough for her to look up at her daughter and recognize her.
Having just recently lost my grandmother, she remembered her husband, and passed away a few days later. My condolences and prayers for you and your family
❤️
My grandmother had a stroke and was bedridden for weeks before she passed away, during this time she only spoke gibberish. The day before she died she woke up and was able to recognize everyone and was actually able to speak to us. The next morning she woke up back in her stroke like state and she passed later that day.
It was the same for my grandmother too. She was really bad off when she was placed in the hospital and heven though it was non verbal she did acknowledge who I was when I visited her for the last time.
My father went that way at 88 died from dementia… The last two days how is life he was able to speak to me it was like having my father Back.. on those last days.. what a terrible way to go…
David Ogden Stiers was an amazing actor. He was able to display the emotions of whatever character he played so well.
He has played a wide range of characters. He was also the voice of Pop's father, Mr. Mallard on the Regular Show.
@@LB__1 he was in Doc Hollywood with Michael j Fox
He was a scientist in Star Trek TNG, another really good role for him, he's always been a really good actor!
He was on an episode of _Star Trek the Next Generation_ as well, playing a brilliant scientist who is from a society where they must end their life when they reach 60 (I think that was the age). Lwaxana Troi (Deanna Troi's mother, played by Majel Roddenberry the wife of Gene Roddenberry the creator of Star Trek) falls in love with him and finds out about this tradition and tries to convince him to ignore it. Stellar acting on both of their parts, honestly. It is called "Half a Life" and was from season 4, episode 22. One of the finer-acted episodes of the whole franchise as far as I'm concerned.
I’ve never seen him in anything but M A S H
I love those times when Charles shows he actually has a heart
Oh he always had. The man was never truly a heartless or emotionally distant robot, just the pretentious, condescending snob his social circle had taught him to be!
@@NiVi192 But he did have a level of class and dignity that sustained him, even in the depths of the war.
When the man who could secure his escape to Tokyo assaulted Houlihan, Winchester revealed the man was lying, and that he would never lie to protect anyone at the expense of another's career.
When Hawkeye was writing out his will during one of his stays near the front, he recognized this in Winchester and promised Winchester his own bathrobe...
"Purple is the color of royalty."
@@karazor-el6085 I don't think I ever saw the episode about the escape to Tokyo ... dang, I really have to buy the series and watch it beginning to end!
Best Christmas episode ever - "for it to be a true act of charity, the donor must remain anonymous" - a side of Charles you don't usually see, especially when he lets everyone else think he's a selfish, greedy person when he actually isn't. He realizes the importance of doing the right thing for its own sake, not because others might praise you for it. That's a lonely road to walk. Only Klinger knows what's really going on and a bond is forged between Charles and Max because of it. Truly a great episode, writing and acting.
@@mnirwin5112 Season 9, episode 13- No Laughing Matter
he's recalling his mother's baking, maybe she's waiting for him in that moment.
Yes, with the Lord. When my wife's mother passed, the previously passed sister of the mom welcomed her to the Banquet, she was telling her granddaughters.
I'm a paramedic, I've seen to many die in the past 30 years. One thing I have noticed, everybody seemed happy and at peace with what was going on. Young and old alike
You mean, they weren't scared?
We're they afraid or anything?
@@crystalwagner5993 didn't seem like it to me. Some even seemed to be relieved
@@edwardwood6622 Shock can be a beautiful thing. Not to those observing un fortunately.
In the final moments doubt, sorrow, fear vanish. Your nerves and therefore pain starts to shut down. Perhaps it is shock, or your brain failing. All I can say is I'm describing my situation, and it would have been so easy to just let go.
@@crystalwagner5993
My uncle was at my grandfather's bedside at Grandpa's death and from what I heard Grandpa - who was conscious right up to the end - showed no fear at all. I think part of it was that he came from a culture (Central European and he was born in 1907) in which death was an accepted and natural part of life. Grandpa's most common comment was "Sooner or later ... everybody dies." It sounds callous but it's true. They didn't try to hide it or pretend it didn't exist or that you could somehow get around it.
Not even in the same category as a person but my dog's kidneys had failed and he soldiered on as long as he could before I had to make that last decision. It was explained what would happen even though it wasn't my first time. She gave him the saline to make sure everything was in order, the sedative and as she actually began the final one, he raised his head off one of my hands to look at me one more time eye to eye, his eyes glazed over and his head slowly went back onto my hand. The vet said she hadn't seen that, usually when she starts the shot, the animal just stops breathing. I suppose it was his way of saying goodbye with just one more look. I don't even know why I posted this, but I decided to leave it.
Thank you for posting this. I have lost two dogs.
What a lovely moment that tells everyone-yes animals have souls. Dogs had no reason to come to our campfires, hunt with us and accept what we give them, learn what we want to teach them. That’s all the more reason to love them back.
i dread that day. my dog means more to me than almost anything else in my life. i know that one day i will have to say goodbye. but i dont know how im going to live through it.
17 years ago I put my dog down. She was a King Charles Cavalier and she was my heart and soul. I died with her that day.
@@stevenmcdonnell2139 I can sympathize with that. I have lost and broken my heart to pets more times than I care to remember. I remember each one and all were special. I will see them at the Rainbow Bridge and we will continue our journeys together always.
Winchester...after all the years of watching MASH, I have been able to see the depth of his emotional connection with his fellow man. The final episode did it for me when he worked with the Chinese musicians and how he acted when they died... Winchester is probably the most human of all the other characters combined.
Without question. Winchester loses Mozart in that final episode. He can no longer listen to his favorite composer. Contrast that with BJ's "loss". BJ has to come back to the war for an extra month...poor baby....
Tremendous scene, beautifully written and flawlessly acted. You felt his pain when he smashed the record -
"My life will go on pretty much unchanged....with one exception. For me, music has always been an escape. Now it will only be....a reminder." -Charles Emerson Winchester III
@@IamRegulator The most painful story line in the finale: Charles loses the one thing that gave him solace.
Personally I imagine that his love for music returns and that one day he is even able to listen to the Mozart Clarinet Quintet again.
Perhaps Charles even founds a Doctors orchestra in Cape Cod, that he of course conducts.
The episode when the candy he gives to the camp priest is sold to buy food. What a great example of his depth in acting
Stiers was the best actor on the show hands down.
Everytime I watch this, his performance brings me to tears.
Just a phenomenal actor, and by all accounts, a wonderful kind man.
The Winchester scenes when we saw the human side of Charles was some of the best writing of the series.
I saw the clip yesterday where he helped a young private who stuttered and was being bullied. He is very kind to the young man, built up his self-esteem, and gave him his copy of Moby Dick. When the soldier asks him why he does this, he doesn't answer, but later, you see him alone in his tent, listening to a tape letter from his sister. And she stutters.
Charles had to struggle to find the strength to walk away from his quest to understand death. It was leading him straight to madness and he finally realises that in this moment, and chooses to just walk away.
He was clearly traumatized. They should have had Dr. Freeman come talk to him, which they would have for Hawkeye no doubt.
@@redsummergarden2600 - I wonder why they didn't?
"Best thing you can do with death is just walk away from it."
--- Capt. Woodrow F. Call, Lonesome Dove (1989)
@@thecowboy9698 He probably never let it show. Most of Charles's emotional moments in front of others were about something that made him happy or relieved. He's not someone to show weakness or pain. In the episode where he got hooked on painkillers he held it in until he literally couldn't anymore
Also he realizes that he can do more in the MASH unit band save more lives.
As the Winchester character came in to replace Frank Burns, I'm glad he was much more to the story than just the goofball that everyone hated.
Yeah, but it was such fun to see Frank go crazy! Like when he lost command at the 4077th. His meltdown is so funny!
It was the right choice. The show moved from being mainly a comedy to a drama, with comedic moments. Frank Burns wouldn’t have fit. And people like Frank, who seemed all to real, don’t change, or they just become worse.
So Charles character was perfect for the way the show grew
Frank Burns would never have had a moment like this. Larry Linville was a fine actor but Winchester brought a class and gravitas to every scene that Burns could never touch.
Frank couldn't have a moment like this. Charles could go back to being what he was after this. It would have changed Frank's whole character, retroactively even.
The writers would have had to do a lot of work to bring Frank's character up to this level. They managed to turn Margaret around but I think she had the potential right from the start. Frank unfortunately was 100% a caricature ... right from the start.
@@mnirwin5112 it aggravates me so much that Frank never got that chance. The closest we had to any actual Humanity from him was the episode when Margaret decided to start seeing someone behind Frank's back and marry them, and he turns into a state of blissful happiness and passive aggressiveness for half an episode. I badly wanted Frank to develop over one of the series', but he never did. The most we did get out of Frank was the creation of the Officers Club.
@@mnirwin5112 Margaret was a great nurse... Frank was an incompetent doctor... her character flaws were also strengths. She loved the army, patriotism, soldiers, and she was sexy as hell. She fell for Frank because he said patriotic things. He however was a coward, while she was very brave.
From everything I've heard Larry was a intelligent and kind man everyone liked.
He was a good actor but didn't have the screen charisma the Alan Alda or Stiers did but I (even as a kid) wished they had developed him more and made him less of a joke
As I sit here watching this, my Mom is in her room. Lying in her bed. 13 months ago she was diagnosed with stage 4 lower esophageal cancer. Her oncologist said she had about a year. She stopped eating 2 days ago. She has been asleep for a day and a half now. The video hit me pretty hard.
I'm so sorry for what you are going through. It is hard to watch a parent die. I hope your mom is being kept free of pain and that her final moments here are gentle and peaceful.
The patient is Gary Gross .I met him in 84 while filming a movie at the now gone Port's of call village in San Pedro, California.
DOS was one of the most underrated actors ever. He could do it all-- character work, musicals, drama, comedy, classical theater, the list goes on. Roam in Paradise, Maestro.
@jmboyd65 it was fantastic to see the writers give his character depth with scenes like this, and the one where he defends the patient who stutters, to then reveal his sister also stutters.
And then straight after, he has to look after the next patient...and the next patient, and the next one after that....
Charles came off as snooty and aloof but perhaps that was his way of dealing with the hell that is war. When you see how his character developed, some of the gestures towards others you knew that deep down he was a good soul.
Snooty and aloof...but a good man.
He was actually was that snooty and aloof when he first was assigned there. He grew up with a silver spoon, and had a cushy job in thoracic surgery at the army hospital in Tokyo. I think you are right that maintaining that persona was part of his shield to deal with the stress and horror of their situation. The other being his love of music. Of all the characters at the end of the series i felt the worst for him. He came out of the war a shell of the man he had been.
@@ryanarment5393 Or, perhaps, a better man than he had been. More compassionate.
He was a Major. an officer and gentlemen. he believed that not only should a doctor be professional but as an officer a gentlemen too. He also had a family name to live up to, the Winchesters which came from wealth so he had a very proper upbringing. the up-close horror of war may have made him a better man and mellowed his views on those that were rough around the edges but he always respected intelligence and a good heart. He didn't get along with Hawkeye and B.J. when he first arrived because his first impression of them is that they were uncaring clowning drunkards that had no respect for the chain of command and no manners or tact. He thought they didn't earn their ranks and that their actions would cost lives... it wasn't until he saw how serious they were in the operating room and how they showed respect for colonial Potter and how they treated soldiers that would come to the 4077 that he mellowed on them and understood it was how they cooped with the horror of war.
One of the best episodes about Charles is when he first gets to the 4077 and is told that he has to work much faster than he is accustomed to working ... basically do just enough to save the soldiers' lives and forget the time-consuming finer points of surgery. At the end of his next OR session, he comes out, sits down, leans forward, and puts his head in his hands ... and the great, confident, pompous Charles Emerson Winchester is having his moment of doubt, not knowing if he can do what's now being expected of him.
Of course, he soon makes the necessary adjustment, but at that prior moment of seeming defeat, neither the viewer nor Winchester knows if he will.
Thank you, Mr. Stiers.
Unlike Hawkeye, who liked to make sure the whole camp knew about his good deeds, Charles kept his compassion and good work to himself and sadly, the rest of the camp mostly saw a snobbish elitist.
Charles, like the actor who played him, was a very private man.
Klinger knew. He overheard Charles arguing with a man outside the holiday tent. Charles had donated candy to orphans, and was appalled the man he entrusted to give it to them had sold it on the black market, until it was explained the money would buy them rice and cabbage for a month of meals.
I think they knew. If not before, then when he backed Margaret vs. the colonel attempting to defame her. The colonel promised to bring Charles back to Tokyo in exchange for supporting the lie.
And Charles waited with Hawkeye while Hawkeye was waiting to see if his dad was okay. There were times the others saw it. And Potter chose to include him in his Tontine and referred to him as a friend with the rest. So there was an appreciation there for him along with everyone else.
I mean, there was also that time he tried to screw the locals by cornering the black market trade on army scrip...
David Ogden Stiers was simply brilliant as Winchester.
Was he ever not brilliant in anything he played?
MASH was probably the greatest drama / SITCOM ever made, or ever will be made. It’s no wonder that its still being re-run after all these years.
@@warriorsorb1111 Ye gods, don't give them any ideas!
@@mnirwin5112 oh shit, you're right. Let me delete my reply
@@mnirwin5112 there. Whew. Dodged a bullet there
Over the years of watching MASH I began to really dislike the episodes where Alan Alda was given free rein - where he was director or where it was just all about Hawkeye. They seemed so sanctimonious, so lecturing, I didn't like them at all. But the rest hold up very well - the ones with real plots and characterisation. Overall, I agree, a great series.
To Charles Emerson Winchester III, you beautiful, condescending ass. Your elegance in the face of brutality says more about your heart than it does your social status. Godspeed, Major. Godspeed, David Ogden Stiers.
I remember this episode ...Westchester had a near death experience and was trying to prove that what he experienced was real and he went to the front to talk to dying soldiers and he gave up after meeting this young man....he didnt ask questions after that
Westchester didn’t die. It’s still there, just north of the Bronx. 😉
There are many ways to interpret the dying soldier's final words, "'I smell bread...'" but the final image in that scene perhaps gives the audience a clue. Winchester leaves the aid station but before doing so, takes off the cap he'd been wearing which still has the bullet hole in it. He presses the hole through the hook, leaving it behind.
I don’t understand, could you please explain
Winchester did not have a near death experience; when he was a child he had a brother that died
I was an Army Nurse. This scene was truth. We saw so much death we could smell it. We could walk in a room and smell this unexplainable sweet smell and know death was upon the patient. Sometimes I can still feel the cold that would creep from the extremities up. I'm glad I'm retired.
Thank you for your service and for healing and comforting those in their worst moments. I'm sure you made a difference to many.
Thank you for your service. 🙏🦅🇺🇸
This is the sort of thing that made MASH great.
Watching this 40 years later has a whole new meaning to me.
Me too. I was just a kid whenI started watching MASH in the ‘70s. These episodes have deeper layers of meaning now. I am so glad MASH’s popularity has endured!
With all of Winchester's outward snobbery he had the biggest heart
I like to think the snobbery was half upbringing, half self defense.
@@tammyt3434
Good point
I think his character had a real connection to humanity be at art or food good friends good drink he had a good connection to the things that really mattered not so much to the petty shenanigans that don't
His snobbery was real and was from his upbringing. He used that and his culture to try and shield himself from the horrors he was in. But in the end, the pain of those around him, the never ending tragedies made it impossible to tune out other people. And he began to confront himself and see others as his equal.
In the end, many of the things he used to shield himself, became a reminder of those horrors. His character is at loss when the war ends. What is he going back too? How can he just pick up his life, after what has happened to him?
@@TimPaulillo
Well said
Damn, David Ogden Stiers was one hell of an actor!
A fine peice of writing "I smell bread" then he passes away. The whole scene tugged at my heartstrings. Grew up with MASH still one of finest shows ever screened
I love this episode. It brings an entire new depth to Charles' character that we don't often see. On the surface he is snobby and egotistical but in this episode we see the real man behind the mask. Especially the revelation about his brother! 😭
OK, that hurt. The more so because I know that there are thousands upon thousands of doctors, nurses and soldiers out there that have their own version of this event in their memory.
My father left me when I was very young and I grew up with a single mother. I learnt so much about life from this show.
Oh wow I forgot this one. He was my favorite on Mash. Everyone was great on the show. But he was something special.
Stiers. My favorite actor on MASH. This was my favorite episode. Great acting. Such a talented and gifted man.
One of many great scenes in MASH. This one hits hard as well as the Christmas episode were they try to keep a soldier alive long enough so he wouldn't die on Christmas. Even the earlier slapstick episodes were great.
¨Then up spoke brave Horatius the captain of the gate. Death cometh for all men upon this Earth sooner or late.¨ Even posh aristocrats like Winchester are humbled like the rest of us. Winchester's character grew tremendously by the series end.
One of my favourite poems when I was at school. I came for the essays and stayed for the poems. "...And how can man die better/Than facing fearful odds/For the ashes of his fathers/And the temples of his Gods"
David Ogden Steirs rest in piece.
M*A*S*H is ingrained in my memory and childhood. I love it even more now. I miss it terribly.
I have watched MASH almost whole life and I am still often surprised how great this show really was!
In fact it is one of the few TV sitcoms that actually got better over the years.
Can’t really call it a sitcom because of scenes like this, but M*A*S*H* was the best 1/2 hour TV show EVER!
I hated this show when I was a kid; it just seemed so boring to me. But, I started to watch it in my 30s, and I was like, "DUDE! This show is awesome!" Then, Charles Emerson Winchester the Third, Colonel Potter and B.J. Honnicutt came on the show, and it got even better!
Did you ever watch the movie MASH that preceded the TV series? I did, at the local drive in theatre.
Alex- It was a time when television had only 12 channels and big budgets. The writers were top notch. There were so man good shows back then. This was also the era that produced All in the Family, Good Times, The Jeffersons, Chico and the Man, Sanford and Son, and One Day at a Time.
@@scottbrandon6244 do you think there was any grooming going on back then?
About five years ago, I binge-watched Mash...ALL EPISODES....From first to last!! And, ready to do it again!!!
Hey good on you! Had any favorite characters? Mine will always be Potter Clinger, and Mulcahy.
about a year ago i did the same and ready for it again too
Same here. About 5 - 10 years between each time. I think it is 4 now since last time. So not quite ready, but looking forward to it.
@@snickerdoodle8776 Potter, Winchester and Klinger once he dialed back the Sec 8 antics.
That's a really healthy addiction! I'm with ya!
Benjamin Franklin, BJ, Maxwell, Charles Emerson, Walter Eugene, Sherman Tecumseh, Margaret, Francis John Patrick, Henry Braymore, Franklin Delano Marion, John Francis Xavier.
On behalf of a 25yr. old Canadian, I thank you for making me cry needlessly. My uncle was an army surgeon who was deployed in Afghanistan back in 2008 and held the hand of a dying US Marine whom he operated for over 2 hours. Until today when I ask him about it, he cries saying the words "please tell the old man up there that I was with you til the end."
Those were his last words to the dying Marine he tried saving.
From this American sailor to your uncle, thank him for trying.
No, you aren't crying needlessly. You are crying because you, like many of us, have the need to because of what we've experienced. Cry until you can't, and then cry some more. That is what it takes to stay a sane human in the face of some of the things that happen. Bless you, and bless your father, may peace come to both of your souls.
I saw Stiers many, many years ago at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego, Ca. playing Falstaff. He was absolutely marvelous. -mikenotpaula.
I do love this scene and episode… the development of the Winchester character is one of the best things about the later years of MASH…. A truly 3-dimensional portrayal by D Ogden Stiers… great actor!
I cannot recall a TV show that replaced important characters ( like a Burns, Trapper John, or Blake) with equally memorable, unique and in many ways better …
I remember vividly watching my wife pass away in front of my eyes. Slow, steady breathing, then nothing. Just peace. I hope she didn’t die in pain.
I watched my dad die peacefully, holding his hand…..I still Weep when I think of it
I saw my Mom pass and whoever came to take her to Heaven made her smile.
@@rebeccaaustin3065 My great grandmother's last words were, "Jesus is here, he's going to take me away now"...she was very peaceful
sad to say but simply brilliant acting from all cast and crew. sad time, just thank you to all of you for sharing what my father went through but never shared, ever. ever. god bless for every human involved from all sides. my father said it was just not right. god bless you all from northern Wisconsin, USA
Winchester was a fantastic character. Thank you David Ogden Stiers.
Best show ever. Timeless. Show the kids today please. This show gave me my soul.
I use to watch this show a lot when I was a teenager. Even though I knew this scene was emotional and significant, it didn't hit home for me until I'd lost my grandmother 6 years ago. She died at my parents home around her family. At that point she couldn't speak and I just kept wondering if she could see something or hear anything beyond this world. I'd never been afraid of death until now and I feel guilty for it. So I remember all the good times I had with her.
Don't feel guilty, love. Life is a journey and you're blessed to have not had that fear earlier. Some may say you shouldn't fear it even now.
At least you're feeling something, means you're alive
M.A.S.H was and always will be one of the very best TV series ever.
Winchester pissed me off a few times, but I loved David Ogden Stiers.
Winchester was human. Pompus...but human.
@@williambrown319 and very difficult to dislike.
@@aeriel69 Damn straight, one of the best characters of the series.
Winchester was not a cardboard character like Frank Burns-he had flaws and good points and was an excellent surgeon.
@@PC4USE1 I was always disappointed that Frank's character was never allowed to grow. Larry Linville deserved better writing than that.
My mother and grandfather loved this show before they both passed!...thank you for this💎💎
Charles started out smug, pompous, entitled and rather a dick. The horrors of war ground that away and he became a person you would want as a friend.
Frank was a cartoon and never changed. Charles was half cartoon in the beginning and changed profoundly. He was broken in the last episode when the Korean band he had trained were killed. He found the strength in himself to not give up.
Once Charles was transferred out from a hospital in Tokyo in order for a general to welsh on his gambling debt to Charles, Charles saw the war on the ground in Korea. It was a culture shock to Charles.
This scene is just perfect....... Winchester was well rounded and a flawed character..... He was played to perfection by David n I loved him by the end of the run.... This scene made me love him all the more ❤️
Wow what a scene. Charles knew he couldn't save him so he did what he could, held his hand and was there for him as he died! Frank Burns never would have done that. Charles started out as a pompous jerk, but man what a change. Another good episode was when a wounded soldier had a stutter and Charles tried to help him and stood up for him. Cause his sister had a stutter as well.
Charles was a pompous jerk, but underneath that he always had a heart and was a truly good person. He filled the foil role like his predecessor but in many other ways he was Frank's opposite.
The kid's dialogue breaks my heart. Seeing the fear on his face was the hardest part for me.
That goes away.
I remember watching the last episode of MASH with my husband.i miss this show for its honesty,humor and real life characters.MASH would not have been the same without each character and the fine actors who portrayed them
Charles learned humility. Only Margaret´s connections got him the post as chief of surgery at Boston General. Then, thanking Colonel Potter and hoping he was half the leader Potter was. Charles leaves the 4077th as a front seat passenger on a garbage truck. He rode away with dignity.
David Ogden Steirs was an outstanding actor
This is one of the best scenes, if not the best, from the entire M*A*S*H series......
I agree! MASH was many things and often was caught up in episodes typecast and scripted in various forms of simple comedy....but every once in a while...and this scene is a testament that it could also be brilliant! Anyone who has ever gone through a life passing experience will tell you that what is portrayed here is sometimes very very real!
Frank Burns and Winchester were both equally amazing for what they had to offer in the show. I won't hold any one higher that the other because I respected both actors immensely for what they brought to MASH.
Playing the heavy sometimes requires more work.
This show would come one right after my sisters and I would get home from elementary school, we started out not liking it but learned to love it. Great show. Moving performance.
The acting and writing on this series was brilliant. Dealing with death and Winchester's curiosity of that event on a prime time show? Riveting drama married to classic comedy.
Still the very best show in television history
Charles was almost always portrayed as a smug self righteous character...and I loved watching him evolve into someone that truly became grounded through the brutality of war...as seen in the very last episode of MASH
I was a kid in the 70's when this show was on, my dad watched it a lot. My family wasn't big on censoring anything, life happens and you had to deal with it. But even as a kid, I understood the reality of this show, How brutal it was and how heart wrenching it was. Moments like this and when Colonel Blake died, effected me, even at about 10 years old and had never lost anyone close, You could feel it in the scene
One of the greatest dudes. Best show ever
This just made me cry. Every time I see this clip it makes me cry, every time, without fail. I loved MASH, it was the only show my dad and I could agree on when I was a kid.
It was the only time we didn’t butt heads over, happened with my oldest boy too. What is it with teenage boys and their fathers? I’ve always figured it was the whole Alpha dog thing.
I’ve known people like this.
I was asked to assess an instructor, once. He was a Vet, and always portrayed himself as a tough guy.
I saw through it.
The question was asked, and I said, “He is a big Teddy Bear.”
I served in a battalion aide station with a person much like Winchester.
LTC Sam Barnes, US Army, Surgeon , Vietnam.
Probably the best person I ever worked for and with shoulder to shoulder .
Winchester reminds me alot of him, and all that he was as Winchester grew and matured.
Winchester wasn't broken, he grew. Stronger than before and willing to go home to serve in the capacity he knew best.
As a surgeon who knew he had what it takes to help save lives.
So, LTC Sam Barnes , if you are alive, and if you ever do read this , I remember you ,and I will never , ever forget you .
D. Blevins
US Army
9th Infantry Division
18D30
ARVN 72-75
Sir, thank you for your service, and welcome home!
Beautiful comment.
@@davidbrumbaugh7809 He was my friend , for quite a while.
The first time I saw this, I cried and that was many years ago. I just cried again. Medics and doctors made sure these young people didn’t pass alone. It didn’t matter what conflict.
Powerful acting here. It is a great thing to witness someone performing in an excellent way. It moves us.
Proud to say a fellow Urbana high school alum! RIP
Very moving scene. David Ogden Stiers was a really good actor in MASH.
I was in my teens and twenties when I first watched MASH. Really affected me deeply. Just this week decided to revisit the show; this short scene came up on my queue. Remember it like it was yesterday. Was at the bedside when my sister and parents took their last breaths. Even though this young soldier was a stranger to Winchester, his reaction captures both the desire to comfort and allay fears of the dying person and the intense curiosity to know what it feels like when to die.
I almost drowned in the ocean at 25; knew I would not be able to get in on my own if someone didn't hear my final plea. I just remember thinking in disbelief, "This could be my death." This poor young soldier conveyed the shock and horror of realizing "this is it."
I forgot how hard mash cant hit.... its been years since I watched it. I'm sure some parts haven't aged well.... then there's this clip
There was alot of sexism which wouldn't fly today, and while our 'heroes' tried for the high ground plenty of racism. Then there are clips like these who speak to all humanity. A young doctor in Brussels is weighing death right now. So is the WHO team in sub-saharan Africa in a desperate war against 100 diseases at once. Or the Chinese doctor looking at the latest COVID variant and working towards it's annihilation.
This is one of the best acting performances ever on the show. He even forgot his Boston accent. And that was on purpose.
Winchester had so, so much depth. The arrogance was just a screen.
God gave him a peaceful moment before he passed
Actually god gave him the war and a violent death. The soldier's brain just kicked out a random memory.
@@InformationIsTheEdge
Actually God gave them... Choice
@@414730 Funny isn't it? How much god's "choice" offering looks indistinguishable from utter absence?
@@InformationIsTheEdge
Depends on how you look at it
InformationIsTheEdge
Before I saw your comment, I was thinking almost the exact thing.
Great acting David Stiers! You were SO good! and You will always be remembered for you contribution, not only on MASH, but for all the other parts you played!
One of the best storylines of the series was the gradual transformation of Major Winchester into a human being.
What a show it was.
He was always my favorite character. Even when my parents hated him.
Such a good actor.
This is one of my favorite eps focusing on Charles. This is a real breakdown on his part. Yet its also about how he came back. He really cared.
Out of all the characters I think the 'war' took the most from this one. Though they all changed over time he seemed to be the most broken by it.
Dont forget in the series finale when he says that he came into war with music as an escape, but now it will always be a reminder.
@@j-wilk4835 I didn't forget. That is one of the reasons I said the war took the most from him.
NJS1346 Hawkeye basically went insane for a while. They all suffered seeing young men / boys die
@@christopherjackson3455 You're making my point. Charles HAD music to cope and it was ripped from him. Hawkeye had humor to cope and it was never ripped form him. There was only one time he placed it to the side and that was during a eulogy. I will agree that Charles grew more as a man, instead of a 'gentleman', than any others.
I always felt he was the one who took away the most from it. He came into the war a rich, cultured, sheltered man with an aristocratic, self-entitled air, and left with a humanity he never, ever would have found from within his upper-crust upbringing had he never left Boston. He became....more.
Winchester gets such a bad wrap bt the concern and sadness he shows this patient proves he is a good Dr. I wish Hawkeye and others had of walked in at that moment saw Winchester crying and holding the patients hand as he passed away, they would all be silent and acknowledging the moment they ALL have experienced with patients, and realized Winchester is just as human and compassionate as they are ☯️
Very sad when I heard of the passing of David Ogden Stiers. He was a phenomenal actor.
“Kaneda what can you see?”
The obsession with the infinite makes for powerful storytelling.
I love watch MASH Growing up, hat seen just bought tears to my eyes, probably didn't when I was a child, thankyou for the memory🙏🏻❤️
Love MASH…it is great scenes like this which showed the realness to it all. Mostly comedy but set in a War Zone. The theme song depicts suicide. What a depiction of living when surrounded with so much death. It was a prime time TV education.
The darkest mercy is that in our final moments, when are bodies know they are finished, their last effort is to give us comfort as we leave. In this case, fresh bread.
Every character added something instrumental, even vital. When they leave, a new character changes the chemistry, but I'm not sure that always means that one actor/character is better than another. Just that they add a new element.