Colonel Potter: Encyclopedia II - Colonel Potter - Background

Colonel Potter - Background

Col. Potter was both an excellent surgeon and leader. He led mainly by example, always doing his best and encouraging others to do the same. He was at times willing to ignore the letter of regulations in order to abide by its spirit. Usually easygoing, he enjoyed playing the occasional practical joke on others in his unit, Potter understood the hellish realities of life in a MASH unit, and the need for jokes, pranks and recreation to boost morale. At the same time, however, Potter did not suffer fools gladly; he still tended to be more stern and decisive than his predecessor Col. Blake, and he would put his foot down if he felt the doctors were getting [too] carried away. When he found out about the existence of Hawkeye and B.J.'s still, he offered advice on how to improve the yield (During WWII he'd had a distillery while stationed on Guam, which blew up, getting him a Purple Heart). In return, the maverick doctors typically respected Potter's authority, and were more prone to obey his orders than they ever did with Col. Blake.

Despite the distance that military duty imposed upon him, Col. Potter was at heart a family man. He kept in regular contact with his wife, children and grandchildren, and told them all about the people he served with at the 4077th. For the most part Col. Potter and his wife Mildred had to maintain a long-distance relationship, although he was able to meet her for a couple weeks in Tokyo at one point.

During his time in the military, Col. Potter had shown that he was a man of integrity who after two World wars had grown tired of fighting. More than once, when old friends of his had committed serious errors that had resulted in men being hurt or killed, Col. Potter would report them to the chain of command. Potter declared that he didn't care if it cost him every friend he had, but the price of not reporting an error was too high if even one soldier died or was hurt needlessly. His integrity and sense of fairness were exemplified when the doctors discovered that one racist CO was deliberately sending black soldiers into hazardous duty so that they'd get injured, killed, or sent home sooner. Despite having grown up in Missouri (then a segregationist State), Col. Potter participated in a sting that got the CO to reveal his true intentions, and forced him to resign.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Background", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki