Trapper John (MASH)


 * Please see Trapper John (TV) for the television incarnations of the character.

"Look, mother, I want to go to work in one hour. We are the Pros from Dover and we figure to crack this kid's chest and get out to golf course before it gets dark. So you go find the gas-passer and you have him pre-medicate this patient. Then bring me the latest pictures on him. The ones we saw must be 48 hours old by now. Then call the kitchen and have them rustle us up some lunch."

- Trapper John prior to surgery.

Captain John Francis Xavier "Trapper John" McIntyre was a protagonist from the novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors and the 1970 film MASH that was based on the novel.

Trapper John was portrayed by Elliot Gould.

A native of Boston, Massachusetts Trapper John played football while attending Dartmouth College. In a game played in the middle of winter he played against Hawkeye Pierce. Trapper John later became infamous for being the only man alive to have found sexual fulfillment in the ladies cab of the Boston & Maine Railway cab.

During the Korean War Trapper John was assigned to the 4077 MASH after Lt. Col Henry Blake put in a request for a thoracic surgeon. At first Hawkeye did not recognize the new man in the 4077 until he saw him catch a football and realized it was his old friend Trapper John.

Early on in his stay at the 4077th Trapper John witnessed Frank Burns lash out at the young orderly Boone for bringing him the wrong kind of needle. When he told Boone that he killed the patient Boone left the ward in tears, believing that he had killed the patient. Trapper John later punched Burns in full view of new chief nurse Major O'Houlihan and Col Blake for that. Blake confronted Trapper John, who admitted to punching Burns and stating he never expected Burns to get up afterwards.

Blake soon named Trapper John the new chief surgeon of the 4077. In response O'Houlihan and Burns sent off a report complaining about all the stuff going on in camp to Blake's superiors. Trapper and Hawkeye arranged for O'Houlihan's tent to be bugged, and when Burns and O'Houlihan made love broadcast the noise all over camp. The next morning Burns attacked Hawkeye and was sent away for psychiatric evaluation.

Trapper John was soon called to Tokyo to take care of a son of a Congressman who had been seriously wounded in the line of duty. Taking Hawkeye Pierce along with him, the two operated on the kid before getting in some golf.

Hawkeye Pierce was eventually rotated stateside, and when he came to say goodbye to Trapper John the man told him to leave before the Army changed its mind.

Following the war Trapper John returned to the United States and visited Hawkeye Pierce at his home in Crabapple Cove, Maine after being discharged. Learning that Hawkeye had been laid off from the VA Trapper John arranged for Hawkeye to receive further training in thoracic surgery. Upon completion of the training Hawkeye breezed through the thoracic boards and established a practice in the Crabaple Cove area. Trapper and several other colleagues from the 4077 eventually moved to Crabaple Cove and became established as physicians in the area.