Since it is the week of Christmas, I thought it would be fitting to feature a Christmas item. But I have already written about the M*A*S*H Christmas scripts (“Dear Dad” (01×12), “Dear Sis” (07×14), “Death Takes a Holiday” (09×05), “‘Twas the Day After Christmas” (10×09)), a few of the cast and crew gifts (M*A*S*H Greatest Hits Record and a 1979 Christmas party invitation), and a Christmas themed book by Jamie Farr (Hababy’s Christmas Eve). Part of the M*A*S*H Historian Collection includes items from real MASH units in Korea, and one of the objects I collected is a Christmas ornament of Santa sitting on a Jeep from the 8076th MASH. What does this have to do with MASH and Christmas? It’s actually an interesting story!
The “Memories of Santa Collection” was produced by Christmas Reproductions, Inc. between 1983 and 2003. According to sources, the company made 139 Santa and St. Nicholas ornaments representing the depiction of Santa Claus from different countries around the world. Many of them commemorate an event that involves either Santa or St. Nicholas. In 2000, a Memories of Santa ornament was produced commemorating the 8076th MASH in Korea and the Christmas of 1950. The ornament was inspired by a photo in the book, MASH: An Army Surgeon in Korea, by Dr. Otto Apel and his wife Pat. In the book, Dr. Apel describes how, in 1950, the 8076th MASH celebrated Christmas by decorating a Jeep to look like Santa’s sleigh, complete with a reindeer! Sitting inside, someone dressed as Santa with a guitar and played Christmas carols. This story inspired the ornament released by the Memories of Santa Collection which depicts a Santa sitting on the hood of a Jeep playing a guitar. The date “1950” appears on the bottom of the ornament, and “8076 MASH” is displayed on the bumper of the Jeep. It is a unique way to remember the moment.
The ornament commemorates an event as described by a MASH surgeon in the same way many of the stories in M*A*S*H were inspired by actual events described by MASH surgeons and nurses through a series of interviews conducted by Larry Gelbart and Gene Reynolds. In the midst of war, the personnel of the 8076th MASH took time to celebrate a holiday away from the their loved ones, and they had some fun with it by decorating a Jeep as Santa’s sleigh. The ornament released in 2000 was a great way to commemorate the event, and I am glad it is in the collection because it honors the human spirit that the men and women of the MASH unit kept alive in the middle of a war zone, something that couldn’t be less dispiriting. Unfortunately, the “Memories of Santa Collection” is no longer in production, but in my research, I found several sites dedicated to it. Used examples of the ornaments can be found on eBay and other sites, including the MASH Santa from the 8076th.
The M*A*S*H Historian 