"The Kids" was the 81st episode of the

M*A*S*H ''M*A*S*H'' (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, and based on the semi-autobiographical fiction of Richard Hooker. The ...

television series, and the ninth of season four. The episode aired on October 31, 1975.

Plot

Nurse Cratty's orphanage is evacuated due to shelling, and Cratty and the children stay with the 4077th. Arriving at the camp, the children, in groups of two or three, are billeted in the tents alongside the 4077th staff.

Frank Burns This is a list of characters from the ''M*A*S*H'' franchise, covering the various fictional characters appearing in the novel '' MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors'' and its sequels, the 1970 film adaptation of the novel, and the televisi ...

is not happy with the disruption, fearing for the security of his Purple Heart, awarded after he received a 'shell fragment' in his eye (an eggshell fragment from a boiled egg rather than an explosive device). B.J. tells the orphans staying in the Swamp a bedtime story of

Androcles and the Lion Androcles ( el, Ἀνδροκλῆς, alternatively spelled Androclus in Latin), is the main character of a common folktale about a man befriending a lion. The tale is included in the Aarne–Thompson classification system as type 156. The ...

. They're asleep before he finishes the tale, but Hawkeye insists B.J. finish the story. Colonel Potter's bedtime story to his charges is taken directly from a gun maintenance manual. A girl bedding down in the officer's club would rather play the piano than sleep. The last person from the orphanage to arrive is a young heavily pregnant woman whom Nurse Cratty was caring for, who stops en route to visit her in-laws. She arrives at the camp late at night, collapsing, having been shot. The doctors operate to save her life and deliver her baby. As they both recover in post-op, Hawkeye and B.J. award the baby with Frank's Purple Heart. After a few days it's safe for Nurse Cratty and the children to return. As the staff are saying their goodbyes to the children, Radar is looking for one boy in particular—to retrieve his teddy bear from him. He gives the boy a substitute teddy bear instead.

Notes

This is the second of two appearances by the character of Nurse Cratty. She was featured in the season 2 episode " The Trial of Henry Blake", where she was played by Hope Summers. In this episode, Nurse Cratty is played by Ann Doran.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kids (MASH episode) M*A*S*H season 4 episodes 1975 American television episodes Television episodes directed by Alan Alda