Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Goodbye Camp Handerson, Hello Sergeant Carter
TV Flash files “Goodbye Camp Handerson, Hello Sergeant Carter” as a desk essential hour — Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. (1964–1969) on CBS, season 5, episode 30, aired 1969-05-02, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S05E30: listed hour 150 of 150 in the Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. guide, last listed hour of season 5. It aired 1969-05-02 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “My Fair Sister” (S05E29). No later hour is listed in this guide.
Essential hour: “Goodbye Camp Handerson, Hello Sergeant Carter”. Goodbye Camp Handerson, Hello Sergeant Carter closes five CBS seasons: catalog tail of an innocence-in-uniform hit.

Viewer FAQ
Where does Goodbye Camp Handerson, Hello Sergeant Carter sit in the Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. guide?
S05E30 is listed hour 150 of 150 — last listed hour of season 5, season 5 episode 30.
When did Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. S05E30 air?
Goodbye Camp Handerson, Hello Sergeant Carter aired 1969-05-02 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start?
Gomer versus Sgt. Carter is the voltage: Nabors's kindness, Sutton's rage. You do not need Andy Griffith first, though the Mayberry spin-off is the extra-textual on-ramp.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. spun Mayberry's gas-station innocent into the Marines and let Jim Nabors bounce kindness off Frank Sutton's volcanic Sgt. Carter. It was a ratings machine that never let Vietnam into the barracks joke. Nabors's vocal comic timing powers the last great military sitcom that still believed innocence could survive drill instructors.
Mayberry's gas-station innocent puts on dress greens. Aaron Ruben's *Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.* (CBS, 1964–1969) spun Jim Nabors's Gomer into the Marines and let him bounce kindness off Frank Sutton's volcanic Sgt. Carter for **five seasons, 150 episodes**. Ronnie Schell's Duke Slater rounded the platoon. Goodwill versus spit-and-polish did the weekly work. It was a ratings machine that never let Vietnam into the barracks joke. Shazam, indeed. On the palate: Mayberry charm in uniform, vocal comic timing against…
Filed against
- Jim Nabors as Pvt. Gomer Pyle
Jim Nabors’s Pvt. Gomer Pyle bounced kindness off a volcanic sergeant — Mayberry’s gas-station innocent spun into the Marines, a 1960s ratings machine that never let Vietnam into the barracks joke. Vocal comic timing as the last great…
- Frank Sutton as Sgt. Vince Carter
Frank Sutton detonated as Sgt. Vince Carter on Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. — Mayberry innocence spun into the Marines, Jim Nabors bouncing kindness off volcanic rank, a ratings machine that never let Vietnam into the barracks joke. TV Flash…
- Ronnie Schell as Duke Slater
Ronnie Schell's Duke Slater bunked Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. as barracks comic weather — Mayberry's gas-station innocent spun into the Marines, Jim Nabors bouncing kindness off Frank Sutton's volcanic Sgt. Carter. Ratings machine that never…