Sometimes You Hear the Bullet

"Sometimes You Hear the Bullet" is the 17th episode of the first season of the TV series M*A*S*H, originally airing on January 28, 1973. This is the first episode in which the medical staff failed to save a wounded soldier, and one of the first episodes of the series showing a member of the hospital staff truly affected by death.

Writer Carl Kleinschmitt was nominated for a

Frank Burns throws his back out while dancing with Hot Lips in her tent. While recuperating in post-op, he puts himself in for the Purple Heart. Margaret justifies it by claiming that since the injury was sustained at a front-line unit (due to a "slip in the mud on the way to the shower"), technically that makes it battle-connected.

Later in the episode, Tommy is brought in, having been shot by the enemy on the front lines. Just before being anesthetized, he tells Hawkeye that he had heard the bullet just before being hit, just like in the movies. Hawkeye suggests that Sometimes You Hear the Bullet is a better title anyway, and tries desperately to save Tommy's life. Unfortunately, Tommy dies on the table and Henry Blake orders Hawkeye to move away and help Trapper.

Henry sees Hawkeye outside crying for Tommy, and wondering why he never cried for any of the other men he has seen die while in Korea. Henry consoles Hawkeye by saying "There are certain rules about a war. Rule Number One is: Young men die. And Rule Number Two is: Doctors can't change Rule Number One."^[2] Not wanting to see another young man die, Hawkeye reports the underage Marine to Major Houlihan, sending him back home. The Marine tells Hawkeye he will hate him as long as he lives and Hawkeye says he hopes it's a long healthy hate.

The Marine later forgives Hawkeye when Hawkeye presents him with Frank's Purple Heart.^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

Themes

This episode contains the strongest