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)
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Brian from Mandan, North Dakota, is puzzling over one of her mother’s sayings. If someone left quickly or abruptly, she’d say that they took off like a ruptured duck. There’s a famous World War II-era military discharge emblem featuring an eagle...
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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