Corporal Walter (Radar) O'Reilly
Corporal Walter (Radar) O'Reilly is a fictional character in the novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, the movie M*A*S*H, the television series M*A*S*H, the television movie W*A*L*T*E*R and two episodes of the series After M*A*S*H. He was portrayed in both the movie and the series by Gary Burghoff--the only movie actor to reprise his role in the series.
Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.
Character background
The novel established that Radar was from the Ottumwa, Iowa area in south-central part of the state. Radar was from a farm family. His father was deceased. His mother lived on the family farm. Radar's Uncle Ed helped out on the farm, and served as a father figure to Radar. Radar was often portrayed as a friendly young man from the midwest. As a symbol of how young this man was when he got to Korea, he slept with a teddy bear.
When Radar was first named clerk at the 4077th, he had a rough start. At first he couldn't seem to do anything right. Col. Blake who was commanding at the time took him under his wing. Eventually Radar became an excellent clerk who had the ability to almost magically get what the unit needed. He also had the ability to hear the helicopters before anyone else could, hence the nickname Radar.
Col. Blake and Radar grew very close while they served in the unit. It was Radar who tearfully announced Blake's death over the Sea of Japan. While Radar needed some time to adjust to the new Col. Potter, he eventually became very close to Potter as well.
During his time at the 4077th, Radar was very close friends with Benjamin (Hawkeye) Pierce. The pair had a falling out after Radar was injured during a trip to Seoul. However, the two rebuilt their friendship.
Because Burghoff felt a need to move on, Radar was written out of the series at the beginning of the 8th season. Radar was discharged after his Uncle Ed passed away so that he could go home and help out on the farm. As a way of saying that Radar came to Korea as a boy and went home a man, Radar left his teddy bear with Hawkeye.
In the short television movie W*A*L*T*E*R, Radar joins the police force after he returns from Korea.
