Corporal Walter (Radar) O'Reilly

Corporal Walter (Radar) O'Reilly is a fictional character in the novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, the movie M*A*S*H, the television series M*A*S*H, the television movie W*A*L*T*E*R and two episodes of the series After M*A*S*H. He was portrayed in both the movie and the series by Gary Burghoff--the only movie actor to reprise his role in the series.

Character background

The novel established that Radar was from the Ottumwa, Iowa area in south-central part of the state. Radar was from a farm family. His father was deceased. His mother lived on the family farm. Radar's Uncle Ed helped out on the farm, and served as a father figure to Radar. Radar was often portrayed as a friendly young man from the midwest. As a symbol of how young this man was when he got to Korea, he slept with a teddy bear.

Cpl. O'Reilly had a rough start as clerk at the 4077th, where it seemed he couldn't do anything right. The unit's commander, Col. Henry Blake, took him under his wing. Eventually, the young man became an excellent clerk with the near-magical abilities to get whatever the unit needed, to anticipate the demands and even the words of his bosses, and to hear incoming helicopters before anyone else. These latter two earned him the nickname "Radar."

Blake and Radar grew very close, and it was Radar who tearfully announced Blake's death over the Sea of Japan. While Radar needed some time to adjust to the new Col. Potter, he eventually became very close to Potter as well.

Radar also became friends with Dr. Benjamin (Hawkeye) Pierce. The pair had a falling out after Radar was injured during a trip to Seoul, but the two rebuilt their friendship.

Leaving M*A*S*H

Because Burghoff felt a need to move on, the Radar character was written out of the series at the beginning of the eighth season. Radar was discharged after his Uncle Ed passed away so that he could go home and help out on the farm. As a way of saying that Radar came to Korea as a boy and went home a man, Radar left his teddy bear with Hawkeye.

In the short television movie W*A*L*T*E*R, Radar joins the police force after he returns from Korea.

See also

• M*A*S*H (TV series)
• M*A*S*H (movie)
• Gary Burghoff
• Ottumwa, Iowa
• W*A*L*T*E*R