ruptured duck
n.— «On Friday, the congressman brought to the hospital what Miller had earned all those years ago—a campaign medal, a Combat Action ribbon, an Honorable Service lapel pin (known to veterans as “the ruptured duck”) and an honorable discharge medal.» —“WWII vet gets his medals” by Howard Wilkinson Cincinnati Enquirer (Ohio) Apr. 11, 2009. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
When there’s no evening meal planned at home, what do you call that scramble to cobble together your own dinner? Some people apply acronyms like YOYO — “you’re on your own” — or CORN, for “Clean Out your Refrigerator...
A librarian opens a book and finds a mysterious invitation scribbled on the back of a business card. Another discovers a child’s letter to the Tooth Fairy, tucked into a book decades ago. What stories are left untold by these forgotten...
I think I just read this term in Rex Stout’s triptych “Trouble in Triplicate,” in the “Instead of Evidence” novella. That would place this term in use as of 1946.
I’ve got the exact reference for this phrase I mentioned yesterday: Trouble in Triplicate (A Nero Wolfe Mystery), by Rex Stout
Original Copyright 1945, ISBN 0-553-24247-4
p. 186 “I didn’t sport a ruptured duck because I didn’t get over to kill any Germans. They gave me a majority so I could run errands for Nero Wolfe while he was winning the war.” – Archie Goodwin