John H. Davis, The Doctor Who Inspired The Character 'Hawkeye Pierce' Has Died

[Brian Damage]

John H. Davis, a longtime Burlington doctor frequently credited as the model for an iconic Army surgeon, has died after a short illness. He was 87.

Davis is being remembered by family and friends for his surgical care, teaching future doctors and helping Fletcher Allen Health Care raise its ability to serve as a high-level trauma center. Following his death last week, he also is being recalled as the basis for Dr. Hawkeye Pierce in M*A*S*H, the popular book, movie and television series starring Alan Alda.

Davis, who often was introduced at national conferences as “Hawkeye,” had jokingly downplayed the media attention thrust on him by the author of the 1968 book, Richard Hooker.

“I keep trying to live it down and say ‘I don’t know,’” Davis told the Burlington Free Press in 1982. He said the author “unfortunately keeps telling my friends that I was his model.” Hooker, a former military surgeon, and Davis served together in the Korean War, daughter Halee Davis said.

She said her father believed he was only one part of a composite of several doctors that formed the basis for Pierce. John Davis had served in World War II and the Korean conflict, where he worked as a surgeon in a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital.

“One of the things we have heard over the past week or so was his ability to talk to and relate to all kinds of people. It wasn’t just health care. It was no matter what the profession,” said Dr. Wendy Davis, another daughter.

The sisters, along with another daughter, Karen, were known to visit him often at the hospital and from time to time went on medical rounds with him. He also is survived by his wife of 65 years, Peggy.

Longtime colleague Dr. Larry Coffin of Shelburne said Davis passed on his skill and knowledge to countless doctors even after stepping down. Medical students would flock to the Davis home in the North End and wanted to learn as much from him as possible.

“He was a great friend and mentor,” said Coffin, who was recruited by Davis to follow him to Burlington from Cleveland in 1970. Davis arrived in January 1969.

“He was an outstanding individual and leader. He could hold his own against others surgeons,” Coffin said. “He has total credibility. He was a man of national reputation with impeccable credentials. He always practiced a very high level of surgery.”

He became president-elect of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma at its meeting in 1973 in Chicago.

While in Korea, Davis was part of a surgical research team that introduced new approaches to the treatment of trauma and burn patients.

Davis was a major proponent of trying to reduce trauma injuries while also making sure that the Medical Center of Vermont, now Fletcher Allen, could deal with those cases.

“Trauma is the fourth largest killer in the nation and leading cause of death in the 1-to-35 year-old age group,” Davis told the Free Press in 1973. “It deprives the country annually of great numbers of our healthy young people who should survive to be useful in our society.”

He was an early proponent of mandatory seat belt use and also believed motorcyclists should be required to wear helmets. Davis also was concerned about the trauma caused by drinking and driving and by snowmobile crashes.

“I still tell my friends I’m not allowed to ride motorcycles,” Halee Davis said. Her father, she added, showed her what can happen in motorcycle accidents.

Wendy Davis, a former Vermont health commissioner, said her father was big about practicing disaster drills in Cleveland and brought that same passion to Vermont. That training helped the hospital react to an Amtrak derailment in Williston in 1984, in which five people were killed and 200 were injured.

Davis was intellectually curious, his daughters said, and had only one regret.

“He wanted to live for another 50 years to follow the health care insurance issue and how it would play out,” Halee Davis said.

The family said a celebration of his life will be announced at a future date. Memorial contributions may be made to an endowed scholarship named for Davis at the UVM College of Medicine.

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