Tuttle is an episode from the television series M*A*S*H. It was the fifteenth episode broadcast and aired on January 14, 1973.

OverviewEdit

Hawkeye and Trapper invent a fictional Captain Tuttle, but one thing leads to another and soon everyone at the camp believes Captain Tuttle is real. This creates problems when General Clayton decides to honor Tuttle by placing his picture in the newspaper.

Detailed storyEdit

The episode opens with Hawkeye and Trapper giving away supplies to Sister Theresa, a nun who runs the local orphanage. When she attempts to thank them, they claim they're just following orders and, when pressed, Pierce says these orders originated from Captain Tuttle.

Tuttle was Pierce's imaginary friend in childhood, whom he used as something of a scapegoat. When Radar O'Reilly, who's in on the fact Tuttle doesn't actually exist, explains to Henry Blake how Tuttle already signed the supply form. Blake, realizing Tuttle has never pulled any O.D. duty, makes him Officer of the Day.

Naturally, when Frank Burns discovers he isn't Officer of the Day he decides to find out everything he can about his stand-in. Radar manages to stall Frank so Hawkeye and Trapper can forge a dossier on Tuttle.

After this, things get out of hand. Pierce and McIntyre, "realizing" Tuttle hasn't been paid in fourteen months, have all his finances transferred to Sister Theresa's orphanage. General Clayton was so impressed with this act that he proceeds to personally award Tuttle by placing his picture in the newspaper.

When Clayton arrives, Pierce explains how Tuttle accidentally jumped off a helicopter without a parachute. Pierce delivers Tuttle's eulogy, saying "There's a little bit of Tuttle left in all of us--in fact, you might say that all of us together made up Tuttle."

When Radar asks Pierce and McIntyre where they came up with Tuttle's dog tags and parachute, McIntyre claimed they were from Major Murdock. When asked who Major Murdock was, McIntyre replied he was Tuttle's replacement, to which Pierce chimed in, "Oh yeah, I had breakfast with him this morning."