Klinger was gay - and wanted to stay in the service, the real Radar says

I asked him where he's from. He's from Iowa. We then talked about a few more things, including the fact I'm from neighboring Minnesota and eventually I asked him where in Iowa he lives.

"Ottumwa," he said.

"You know what I'm going to ask you now, right?" I said.

He stuck out his hand and said, "I'm Radar."

He is, in fact, Don Shaffer (and his wife is Pat). And he is the person on whom the character of Radar O'Reilly was based in the book that later became the movie and TV series M*A*S*H. Richard Hornberger (who took the name Richard Hooker) thinly disguised the characters in the book as soldiers who served with him in an Army field hospital in Pyongyang, Korea. Shaffer was company clerk and a chaplain assistant. When the unit had to "bug out" to escape the advancing Chinese, Shaffer had to drive two USO members. One was Joe DiMaggio.

He told me the real "Hot Lips" Hoolihan was "much more beautiful than Ms. Swit," and that the soldier on whom Klinger was based was gay (and was named Springer), but it was the Army that was trying to throw him out , while he wanted to stay in the service. Full story (a good read)