Lieutenant Charlie was a nurse who made a single appearance in the Season 3 episode "Bulletin Board". Like Nurse Able and Nurse Baker, the name "Charlie" is taken from the military phonetic alphabet, in this case for the letter "C". These labels were used as generic names for minor nurse characters in the MASH TV series. However, unlike Able and Baker, the name Charlie was used only once. The role of Nurse Charlie was played by prolific recurring cast member Kellye Nakahara. She had earlier appeared as Lieutenant Kellye Yamato and the first of the many Nurse Ables.
After her appearance as Nurse Charlie, Nakahara would also be credited on various occasions as "nurse" until her identity finally settled down in later seasons as Lieutenant Kellye Yamato (frequently credited simply as "Kellye"), going back to her first named credit. Kellye Nakahara also made many uncredited and background appearances, in well over 160 episodes and, after the main cast, is considered the recurring cast member with the most appearances in the TV series.
The name "Charlie" may sound strange but this was during the early part of the series when generic nurse characters were named simply "Able", "Baker", "Charlie" according to the phonetic alphabet in use at that time. In the later part of the series, the writers began to give nurse character names, or simply used the real names of the actresses who played them.
About Nurse Charlie[]
In "Bulletin Board", Nurse Charlie interrupts Henry at the movie night to tell him that his patient is hemorrhaging again. Henry, who has been too preoccupied with his patient to enjoy the Shirley Temple movie, leaves with her to Post Op.
Later in the episode, Charlie takes part in the carnival organised by the MASH to raise funds for an orphanage. She leads a team in the relay race to be the first to fill a container with spoonfuls of water. In the nurses foot race, she is leading the field towards the finish when Frank, pursued by an angry Margaret, cuts in front of her to cross the finish line ahead of her and take the prize.