MASH | 15 MISTAKES You Never Noticed!

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]You've watched Mash countless times, but I bet you never noticed these mistakes.

[00:00:04]From characters forgetting their lines to time-traveling mix-ups and disappearing [music] props, some of these mistakes are bigger than you'd expect. Let's take a closer look at these 15 mistakes that don't quite add up. Radar's tattoo contradiction. In this episode, Henry Blake is giving Radar his physical when Radar proudly reveals a brand new anchor tattoo he says he got for just 50 cents. It's played as a funny moment showing Radar trying to act a little more grown-up and worldly. But in a later episode, Radar is shown debating whether he should get his very first tattoo. He spends time thinking about it, weighing the decision, and ultimately decides against getting a real one, choosing a fake tattoo instead. The problem is obvious.

[00:00:44]Radar already showed off his anchor tattoo earlier in Check-Up, [music] so this couldn't possibly be his first tattoo. Potter's wife's changing photo.

[00:00:52]In the episode Change of Command, Radar is unpacking Colonel Potter's belongings after he arrives [music] at the 4077. As Radar begins placing the framed photos on Potter's desk, he asks where his wife's picture should go. Potter quickly responds, "No, she always goes on the right-hand side of my desk." It's a small but meaningful detail showing how particular Potter is about his wife's photo and how important she is to him.

[00:01:15]However, in many episodes that follow, viewers can clearly see the same photo sitting on the left-hand side of Potter's desk instead. The placement changes without explanation, creating a noticeable continuity error. It's an easy detail to miss, but once you notice it, you'll start spotting the photo switching sides throughout later episodes. The crowbar that reappears. In Welcome to Korea, Hawkeye, B.J., and Radar are driving back to camp when their Jeep gets a flat tire. As they begin changing it, a group of locals nearby suddenly start shooting at them.

[00:01:46]In the middle of the chaos, Radar jumps out to grab the jack and crowbar to help with the tire change. As the gunfire continues, Hawkeye urgently yells at Radar to get in the car. Radar quickly drops the crowbar straight to the ground and jumps back into the Jeep. They immediately speed off, leaving the tools behind as they try to escape the danger.

[00:02:05]But just moments later, further down the road, they stop again to tighten the general's lug nuts. This time, Hawkeye jumps out of the driver's seat and somehow he already has the crowbar in his hand. Yes, the one he just left behind during the earlier gunfire.

[00:02:18]There's no moment where anyone picks it up, yet it suddenly reappears in Hawkeye's hand in the very next scene.

[00:02:25]Hawkeye's Emmy Lou reference. As Hawkeye and Margaret return to camp in a Jeep, they stop just before entering the 4077.

[00:02:33]At that moment, Hawkeye Pierce casually turns to Margaret Houlihan and says, "We're home, Emmy Lou." We made it back to the 4077, Emmy Lou.

[00:02:42]The line may sound random, but it is actually a reference to the comic strip Emmy Lou. The strip originally debuted in 1945 as Betty Lou and Ho Hum before being renamed Emmy Lou in 1958. The problem is the timeline. Since the Korean War takes place years before 1958, the comic strip would not yet have been known as Emmy Lou. This creates a small but noticeable historical mistake where Hawkeye references something that technically did not exist yet during the time the show is set. The wrong helicopter. At various [music] points in Mash, a sign labeled air ambulance can be seen hanging on the wall in the mess tent. On the sign is a drawing of a Bell UH-1 Huey helicopter. A similar drawing is also briefly seen hanging on a red sign in the officers club. The problem is historical accuracy. The Bell UH-1 Huey was not used during the Korean War.

[00:03:32]The Huey did not enter US military service until the late 1950s and became widely associated with the Vietnam War.

[00:03:40]During the Korean War, the helicopters actually used for medical evacuation were models like the Bell H-13 Sioux, which looks very different from the Huey. Reused footage. In Bug Out, the 4077th is forced to evacuate quickly as enemy forces approach. During the evacuation, there are shots showing the tents being torn down and the basketball hoop being dismantled as the camp prepares to move out. However, sharp-eyed viewers may notice something familiar. The same footage of the tents and basketball hoop being taken down is reused years later in the series finale, Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen, when the camp is dismantled for the final time.

[00:04:16]While it's a subtle reuse of stock footage, it creates an interesting continuity detail since the scenes are meant to represent two completely different moments, one temporary evacuation and one permanent farewell.

[00:04:29]Crabapple Cove population. In Hawk's Nightmare, Hawkeye chats with a patient about hometowns and casually mentions that Crabapple Cove has a population of 3,976.

[00:04:39]The continuity hiccup comes in the episode Letters, where the fourth-graders writing back to the 4077th make it clear that Crabapple Cove only has about 300 residents. Unless the plague has hit the town, it's too big of a difference to call it a small mistake.

[00:04:54]So this is yet another change in Hawkeye's backstory, who already had some inconsistencies before whenever he talked about his family. Colonel Potter's love for horsemeat. In the episode Ping Pong, during a conversation in post-op, Colonel Potter jokingly tells Colonel Beckett that he had a piece of meat the other day that whinnied, implying it was horsemeat. The inconsistency arises when you remember a previous episode, The Kids, where Potter passionately defends horses as noble creatures that could never be eaten.

[00:05:23]Here, he lectures about locals being allergic because all they eat is horsemeat. Also, when you think about Potter's love for his horse, Sophie, it's hard to imagine that he would ever eat horsemeat. The 50-star flag mistake.

[00:05:35]Throughout Mash, the American flag is frequently shown flying over the 4077th compound. However, there is a clear historical inaccuracy that appears again and again. The Korean War took place between 1950 and 1953, when the United States only had 48 states. Alaska became the 49th state in 1959, followed by Hawaii later that same year as the 50th state. Despite this, the flag shown at the 4077th camp consistently displays 50 stars, representing all 50 states. This creates a noticeable historical mistake since the 50-star flag did not officially exist until 1960, several years after the Korean War had ended.

[00:06:14]The Minox camera. At the end of this episode of Mash, Captain Stone is seen using a small spy-style camera while carrying out his intelligence duties.

[00:06:23]The problem is the type of camera being used. The device appears to be a Minox camera, which became popular and widely used during the late 1960s, particularly during Cold War espionage. However, the Korean War setting of the series takes place in the early 1950s, years before this camera became commonly available.

[00:06:42]Nurse Kelly's table switch. In this episode, Nurse Kelly confronts Hawkeye about never paying her any attention.

[00:06:48]Hawkeye walks into the officers club wearing a tuxedo and takes a seat at the bar. If you watch closely, you can see Nurse Kelly already sitting at a table behind him. The continuity hiccup happens in the next shot. The camera cuts to Nurse Kelly and suddenly she's just about to sit down at the same table. There's no movement shown from one position to the other. It's as if she magically appeared in a slightly different spot between shots. It's a subtle error that most viewers probably never notice, but it's a classic example of how small continuity slips can sneak into even well-produced shows like Mash.

[00:07:22]The changing lamb decoration. During this episode of Mash, the camp prepares a decorative lamb made out of food as part of the storyline involving Radar O'Reilly trying to save a young lamb named Charles. In one shot, the decorative lamb is clearly shown with mashed potato eyes and a carrot mouth.

[00:07:40]However, when the camera cuts to the next angle, the lamb suddenly has grape eyes and the mouth has changed as well.

[00:07:46]Then in another shot, the decoration changes again. The wandering MP. In this episode, the camp gathers in the mess tent to watch a Shirley Temple film when a fight suddenly breaks out between Klinger and Zale. Father Mulcahy rushes in to intervene, but if you look closely, there's a hilarious continuity goof involving the MP standing outside.

[00:08:07]At the start of the scene, you can see the MP off to the left outside the tent, just sitting there with his back to the action. As the fight continues, the MP's position shifts. He's now standing behind the back door of the tent, hidden from view. But when Mulcahy is pushed outside and the left door swings open for him to bumblingly exit, the MP suddenly appears again, fully visible, waiting to enter the scene properly. The mess tent's mesh screen walls make it easy for anyone standing off stage to be visible if the camera catches them.

[00:08:36]Potter's hometown mix-up. In this episode, B.J. and Hawkeye are talking with Colonel Potter in his office, stirring up some mischief. Potter laments that he hopes his last 16 months in the army go smoothly so he can return to his patio in Nebraska. The odd thing, throughout nearly the entire series, Potter consistently refers to his hometown as Hannibal, Missouri. This sudden change to Nebraska is a continuity slip that stands out to fans paying close attention. Hawkeye's sockeye salmon slip. In this episode, Hawkeye casually mentions that he enjoys fishing for sockeye salmon in Maine. At first, it sounds like just a light-hearted detail about his hobbies, but if you know anything about salmon biology, it doesn't quite add up.

[00:09:17]Sockeye salmon are native to the Pacific Ocean and the rivers that flow into it, mostly in Alaska, British Columbia, and parts of the Pacific Northwest. They simply don't live in Maine or the surrounding Atlantic waters. This is one of those little slips that most viewers probably won't notice on a first watch, but for anyone who's into fishing or geography, it stands out immediately.

[00:09:38]It's funny because Hawkeye, who is usually portrayed as witty and observant, is casually giving out completely inaccurate information about something he clearly enjoys doing.

[00:09:48]Spotted a mistake we missed? Drop it in the comments and don't forget to like the video.