M*A*S*H*
Henry's Finest Hours
Melissa

Henry looked out the airport window. The sky appeared sad to see him leaving Korea, and tears were pouring down on the airfield.

Most men and women were excited when they got their discharge, but not Henry.

He was happy, of course, because he was about to see his wife and his children, but he missed everyone at the 4077th.

Henry reached into his shirt pocket and took out a shiny, silver key chain.

It was the same key chain that Radar had given him only a couple of days before.

He looked at the key chain for awhile. Then he wiped the key chain with a white handkerchief, looked at it one more time, and then placed it back into his shirt pocket.

Suddenly he heard someone yell, "Hey, Colonel Blake."

<>Henry replied, "Yo!"

Henry looked around to see a young man with brown-blond hair (that needed cutting), blue eyes, and light skin sitting (in a wheel-chair) being pushed by a young woman of African American descent . He could tell by her insignia that she was a nurse. Henry also noticed the fact that the young man did not have a right leg and the young man had a serious look on his face. Henry looked at him, trying to remember who he was.

As usual, he lost his train of thought and started thinking of how he knew the young man, which made him think of his unit : MASH 4077.

Henry's Finest Hours

By Melissa

Part one

"Burns!!" Doctor Benjamin Franklin (Hawkeye) Pierce yelled.

"What do you want, Pierce?" Major Frank Marion Burns asked in his usual whiny tone.

"You did not irrigate the wound right!" shouted Hawkeye.

"Then you do it!!!" shrieked Burns.

Hawkeye instantly grabbed the surgical tools from Burns' hands and started working on the patient.

"Colonel!" whined Burns.

Henry instantly snapped. "Shut up, Frank!"

Frank sulked out of the OR like he was not wanted.

"I wonder how he ever made it through medical school." Captain John Xavior (Trapper) McIntyre jokingly said.

"Probably bribed all the officials," Captain Adam Spalding another surgeon at the 4077th said in reply. A few people giggled and then quickly returned to work.

"Damn," cursed Hawkeye.

"What's wrong?" Trapper asked.

"Frank, that's what's wrong," Hawkeye stated, "Not only did he irrigate the wound wrong, but he also contaminated the field. I'm going to have to amputate the leg. If this wound had been operated on correctly, the leg would not have needed amputated." "It could have been worse," Trapper commented.

"Yeah," Hawkeye sighed, "I could have let Frank keep operating."

After all the wounded had been taken care of, Hawkeye, Trapper, and Spalding went to the swamp for a round of drinks. They saw Frank in the swamp typing on his typewriter.

"That can't be good," Captain Spalding stated.

"With Frank, It's never good," Hawkeye replied.

"What are you doing, Frank, writing for Burma Shave?" Trapper said.

"No, I am writing to General Clayton. After today's casualties, I think I deserve a promotion," Frank boasted.

"Frank, if anything, you deserve to be shot out of a cannon," Hawkeye stated.

"Well, who's asking you?" Frank whined.

"Frank, that private you fumbled on earlier is down for the count," Trapper said.

"Huh?" Frank questioned.

"I had to amputate the kid's leg because of your clumsiness," Hawkeye remarked.

"So, it's just one private," Frank retorted.

"Try and explain that to him," Hawkeye commented, "because I am about to do that.

Part 2

Hawkeye walked into Post-Op and sat by the patient in the first bed. He took a quick glance around the room. The room was covered by occupied beds. The individuals occupying the beds, should have been at home enjoying life, not in a hospital cheating death.

Hawkeye looked at the patient in the first bed and sadly frowned. This should not have happened to the boy. Not just the amputation, but also the wound itself. The kid should have been home having fun, not in Korea, having all the fun of a contagious disease.

"How are you doing, Private Adams?" Hawkeye questioned.

"It's Jake, and actually I feel a little strange. Like something's different. It couldn't be my wound though, because I still feel it. I mean it hurts a little bit, but that's all," Jake commented.

"Um, actually, Jake, that pain is not coming from your wound. It's coming from your head," Hawkeye explained.

"What do you mean?" Jake inquired.

"Well, um, the wound was amputated with your leg," Hawkeye cautiously stated.

The private slowly looked under his blanket and saw that Hawkeye was telling the truth. He quickly dropped the blanket. Then he closed his blue eyes.

"I'm so sorry," Hawkeye said.

"The medic said they were didn't need to amputate, What happened?" Jake pleaded.

"Uh, that's another item we have to talk about. You see, before I took over, another surgeon was operating. He performed a careless procedure that infected your wound. By the time I got to working on you, it was too late to save your leg," Hawkeye explained.

"What was the surgeon's name?" The private asked, showing no emotion.

"Uh, Major Frank Burns," Hawkeye hesitantly replied.

The talk was so intense that neither one of them noticed Nurse Able approach Hawkeye. She tapped Hawkeye on the shoulder, which startled him. Then she said, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but Corporal Richard's fever is up to 103.5."

Hawkeye turned to her and stated, "It might be an early abscess. I'll be right there." Then he turned to Private Adams and said, "I'm sorry we didn't get to talk more, but we can talk later. If you need to speak to someone now, we have a priest here and talking is his specialty."

"No thanks, I'm kind of tired, but thanks," Jake commented.

"For what?" Hawkeye inquired.

"For saving my life," Jake answered.

"You're not mad?" Hawkeye asked.

"I know you did your best," Jake responded.

"Anytime," Hawkeye smiled.

As Hawkeye was leaving, Jake angrily uttered under his breath, "but I'm going to kill Major Burns."

Part 3

Private Jake Adams talked to all the patients in post-op to see what they thought of Major Burns. Two other patients loathed Burns as much as Jake did. One, Corporal Tyler Ames, did not like Burns because three months before, Frank operated on Tyler's best friend. His friend did not survive. Tyler got no apology or explanation from Major Burns. That enraged Tyler and ever since, he had been trying to think of a way to get revenge. Tyler had a broken arm, but he could walk and use his other arm.

The other patient, Private Link Tamer, had been driving a jeep with wounded soldiers, to the 4077th. As he was approaching triage, Frank Burns appeared out of nowhere. The Major was not watching where he was going, and the private almost ran over him. The private swerved and missed Burns, but the car was going so fast, that Link was thrown from it. The jeep, then, crashed into the mess tent. The two wounded soldiers, were still alive and unhurt by the crash. Link, on the other hand, received a small concussion. Instead of thanking Link for saving him, Major Burns further insulted Link by telling him that he was going on report for endangering wounded soldiers, and almost running into an officer.

The three soliders decided to team up and slay Major Burns. They started formulating a plan. Link and Jake would go to the supply room and look for the place where all their belongings were kept. There they would grab each of their guns. They would store the guns in Jake's wheelchair, and then go back to post-op.

They would hide one of the gun's in Tyler's sling. Then Tyler, who was a patient of Frank Burns, would fake a stomach cramp. Hopefully, the nurse would send for Frank. When he gets to post-op and was examining Tyler, Tyler would pull out his gun with his good hand and aim it at Frank.

Jake was a pretty quick learner and had already learned to control his wheelchair. He and Link would take two other hostages, for protections. Then the six of them would move into the OR, so none of the other patients would be anymore traumatized more than they already were. The OR also had less doors than Post-Op, which meant less vulnerable spots. There they would assassinate Major Frank Burns.

Part 4

The next day, they put their scheme into action. Everything was going as planned. Link and Jake had no problem getting the guns, and concealing them. Even less of a hassle getting was one of the guns to Tyler. Then Tyler started faking stomach pains. Sure enough, the nurse told Radar O'Reily, the company clerk, to get Major Burns.

"Radar, get Major Burns over here on the double," Nurse Baker instructed him.

"Yes, sir, I mean ma'am," Radar replied.

Radar hurried out of Post-Op to get Frank, but on his way he passed Colonel Henry Blake.

"What's wrong, Radar? Have you lost your teddy bear, again?" Henry inquired.

"No sir, one of Major Burn's patient's is having real bad stomach pains, and the nurse doesn't know what it is," Radar explained.

"Probably by being one of Frank's patients," Henry joked.

"The nurse sent me to get Frank," Radar commented.

"I'll go, I was my way over there anyways," Henry said.

The two of them walked into Post-Op. The nurse ran to them and explained the symptoms to Henry.

"He's not too hot or anything, but he's been complaining of stomach pains. He looks like he is in a tremendous amount of pain," The nurse defined.

"Strange," Henry remarked, "I've never heard anything like that result from a simple broken arm."

He went to the patient to get a closer look. Then he started to examine the patient. When all of a sudden, he was staring right into the mouth of a pistol. He quickly put his hand up and stepped a few feet backwards, as the corporal got up, and bellowed, "Where is Major Frank Burns?"

Part 5

Link and Jake grabbed their two hostages. Link held up Nurse Baker and Jake took Radar. They all made their way to the OR, stopping only to grab the phone from Radar's office. After they got into the OR, Link told Tyler and Jake to find some surgical tape.

"Well, well, well, since Frank decided not to join our party as planned, I guess we must coerce him," Link declared.

Jake and Tyler found some surgical tape, then Jake and Link bound the three hostages' arms and legs.

Henry, trying to be assertive, asked, "You have me. Why don't you let Baker and O'Reilly go?"

"You see, Colonel, this does not have to do with you. This has to do with that ferret-face rat, Burns. In our original plan, we were going to take Frank in here and kill him, but since you arrived instead of him, we had to change our plan a little," Link explained.

"We are going to use you and the other two as a trade for Burns," Tyler stated.

"What if they refuse to trade?" Henry questioned.

Link pointed the gun closer to Henry's head and said, "We'll just hope it never comes to that, if you catch my drift.

"Oh, boy," Henry sighed.

Part 6

Hawkeye stepped inside Post-Op to find three of the patients and a nurse missing. He check to see if any of the patients knew what had happened. One of the patients had seen the three wounded soldiers take the nurse, a doctor, and an enlisted boy hostage.

"All they said was something about wanting to know where a man named Burns was." The patient stated.

"Do you know where they are now?" Hawkeye persisted.

"All I know is that they went out of those two doors," the man responded, pointing at the entrance to the company clerk's office.

"Thanks, you've been great of help. Have a glass of plasma, on me." Hawkeye quickly stated and then left.

Hawkeye opened the door to the company clerks room where he saw a phone line coming from the door of the OR. Hawkeye tried to open the door, but couldn't. The door was strangely locked. Then he heard a voice instruct him to pick up the other phone.

Hawkeye did as he was told.

"Hello?" Hawkeye inquired.

"Who is this?" The voice on the other line said.

"Dr. Pierce," Hawkeye answered.

"Well, listen up, Doc. Me and two buddies of mine have your CO, your company clerk, and one of your nurses. We will trade all of them for Major Burns. You have three hours to get Major Burns here or we start killing hostages," The voice demanded and then hung up.

Part 7

Hawkeye quickly ran outside to find Trapper. Hawkeye saw him at the mess tent drink a cup of coffee. Hawkeye quickly ran into the mess tent.

"Trapper, do you know where Frank is?" he asked.

"No, now beat it! I don't have money for another cup of coffee," Trapper replied.

"I can't, we have a big problem," Hawkeye stated.

"Yeah, I know, but its against regulations to kill the cook," Trapper joked.

"Not that problem," Hawkeye said.

Hawkeye explained the predicament to Trapper. Then they both ran to Major Margaret (Hotlips) Houlihan's tent and opened the door. They found her and Frank in a passionate embrace.

"You're supposed to knock before entering!" Hotlips shrieked.

"There's no time for that," Hawkeye answered.

"What do you mean?" She inquired.

"I mean that while you two were playing doctor in your tent, three patients have taken three hostages, including Henry," Hawkeye said.

Hawkeye and Trapper explained the whole situation to Major Houlihan and Major Burns. Afterwards, Frank, always the coward, shriveled up and said," Well, I'm not going in there."

"Are you scared, Major Burns?" Major Houlihan curiously asked.

"Well, um, no, but I am not going in there," He answered and then quickly ran out of the tent, leaving Major Houlihan and the two Captains.

"Beautiful," Trapper said.

Part 8

Meanwhile, back in the OR, Jake was guarding the three prisoners while the other two were guarding the doors. Jake swore, angrily. They were not supposed to kill anyone other than Frank. These were innocent people that did not deserve to die like Frank.

"So, what's your name, private?" the commanding officer asked.

"It's Jake," he nervously replied.

"Well, Jake, my name's Henry," Henry stated.

"I'm so sorry you got involved, Henry. We just wanted to kill Major Burns," Jake said.

"Why?" Henry asked.

"Why do you think why? Because if it were not for him, I would still be walking, Tyler would still have his best friend, and Link would not have a concussion or be on report," Jake remarked.

"He might deserve it, but killing Frank won't solve any of your problems," Henry commented.

"It will make us feel better, Colonel," Tyler stated while approaching Jake, "knowing he's dead."

"Only for a second," Henry remarked.

"How would you know? Have you ever lost something or someone that was very close to you, and found out that it wasn't neccassary?" Jake asked.

Henry was deathly silent.

"I didn't think so," Jake said.

Part 9

3 hours later

It was time to make the trade, but there was one problem. Frank was still missing. Hawkeye had gotten the rest of the camp to look for him, but the one thing Frank was good at, was hiding. Hawkeye had no idea how to explain to them that Frank had flown the coup. Hawkeye picked up the phone and waited for the voice to come back on. When Hawkeye heard the voice, he said, "I'm so sorry, but Major Burns has run away. No one at the camp can find him."

"Well," the voice stated," I hope you have someone that can do the company clerk's job because the next thing your going to hear is a bullet going through the boy's brain."

"Please just give us more time," Hawkeye pleaded into the phone, but the line was dead.

Meanwhile, Link untied Radar's feet. Tyler said, "On your feet, Corporal."

Radar slowly got up and faced Tyler. Tyler then uttered, "I apoligize for what I am about to do,"

He pointed the gun at Radar and was about to pull the trigger, when suddenly Henry yelled, "My son!"

Tyler lowered his gun, and Justin said, "What?"

Henry replied, "You asked me if I ever lost something or someone that could have been saved. I lost my son."

"How?" Jake questioned.

"Ten years ago, my wife, Lorraine, was pregnant with our first child," Henry explained, "and everything was going fine. Three weeks before she was due, the hospital asked me if I could go to a three-day medical conference in San Francisco. I said yes because I figured that it was only for three days. My wife' s due date was three weeks away and I would definately be back in time to see my child delivered. So I left Illinois and the next day my wife went into labor.

The doctor who was supposed to deliver my child was also at the medical conference, so they had to find another doctor to take her place. Unknowingly, they chose a doctor who was very drunk at the time," Tears started forming in Henry's eyes as he continued explaining, "The doctor carelessly delivered my child and then, still drunk, he dropped the baby. My baby instantly died. One of the nurses told me, it was a boy.

I never even got to see my child. A few days later, when we were supposed to be taking home the baby, we were burying him. Then, to add further insult, the only punishment that doctor got was a six month's suspension, with pay.

I, too, had thoughts of committing murder, but then I realized that this man would have to live the rest of his life with the knowledge that he carelessly took an innocent life. He asked me several times to forgive him. He gave me excuses, like he could not sleep at night, and he could barely eat during the day. I never forgave the other doctor, and it was the best revenge I could have ever give him. My wife and I would have to live with the death of our son. He should have to live with the thought that he killed our son. You should do that to Frank, rather than of kill him."

The three patients looked at each other and slowly put down their guns. Henry whispered to Radar to call Tokyo and get Sydney Freedman over to the 4077th. Link untied Henry and the nurse. Then each of the patients apologized to Henry and Nurse Baker. Henry and Nurse Baker accepted the apoligies.

Henry took the guns and gave them to Hawkeye, who was coming into the room after untying Radar's hands. Hawkeye said that he would put them in a safe place like the latrine. Then he left.

Nurse Baker guided Tyler and Link back to post-op, but Jake wanted to talk to Henry alone. Jake then asked, "Were we the first people you told?"

Henry answered, "Besides my family and close friends, yes."

"Well, Henry, I just want to say thank you. It must have been very hard to talk about losing your son," Jake said.

"Harder than anything else" Henry replied.

Then Henry took Jake back to his bed in post-op. Afterwards, he went outside and took a walk through the compound. He smiled the whole time. He realized he had saved seven lives. For the first time, in ten years he was ready to bury his son. In his mind, he forgave the doctor.

Part 10

4 hours later

Frank came back to camp with a smile on his face. He had seen Henry moving around the camp and knew the crisis was over. He would now go volunteer and act sad when they told him that there was no longer a need, because the standoff was over. Then Frank would write another letter to General Clayton saying that he volunteereed to go on a dangerous mission. After that, Frank would surely get promoted. He walked into the CO's office and said, "Major Frank Burns, volunteering to go on the dangerous mission."

"Too late, Frank" Trapper said.

"Oh, well," Frank giggled.

"General Clayton tore up your letter, Frank, Colonel Blake stated.

"Huh?" Frank inquired.

"I called General Clayton and told him what happened today. He decided that, for the next few months, he was going to rip up any letter you send to him. Also, I ripped up the report on Link Tamer. That accident was your fault. You should have looked to see where you were going. You owe him, Tyler Ames, and Jake Adams all an apology. So I suggest you go into post-op and apologize" Henry said.

"But, Colonel," Frank whined.

"Go, before I decide to string you up by your ears!" Henry snapped.

"Fine," Frank grumbled. He left.

"You know, Henry," Hawkeye said while opening a bottle of whiskey, "I think these past few hours have been your finest hours."

"I know," he whispered.

Part 11

"Colonel....Henry?" A voice inquired.

Henry shook his head. He realized he had been day dreaming about his unit. He was really going to miss them. He turned to the young man and asked, "How's everything going, Jake?"

"A whole lot better. After talking to Major Freedman for the past few months, I think I'm ready to face the world again," Jake said.

"That's great, Jake. So, are you going home?" Henry inquired.

"Yep, non-stop to Seattle," Jake stated.

"Oh, I'm going on the flight to Tokyo, then Hawaii, then San Francisco, and then home," He said, disappointed.

"Flight 12 to Tokeyo is now boarding," an announcer blared on the loudspeaker.

"Speaking of which," Henry commented.

"I'd better go to my flight area, too, but I just want to thank you for everything," Jake said.

"You're welcome," Henry replied.

Then Jake left. Henry slowly walked to the plane. As he got there, he took one last look at Korea, and smiled. Then he boarded the plane.

Fini

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