A QUACK In The 36th

Pvt. Oswald (nmi) Quack of the 36th does morning calisthenics, stands in the chow line, and once went on a bender. All of which constitutes a strictly GI routine, except for one fact—Pvt Quack is a small, yellowish, web-footed bona-fide duck.

As 1st Sgt. Raymond E. Jones of Houston puts it, “Oswald is only a month old, and I never heard of a Quiz-kid who could do all those things at his age.”

Quickly adjusting himself to army rules and regulations, Oswald hangs around the orderly tent and sweats the kitchen tent. Mess Sgt. Mancel Morren is especially fond of Oswald because he eats “corn-willie.” As a matter of fact, remarked 1st Lt. Raymond E. Pinsoneault of Terrace Falls, Mass., “he’ll eat anything as long as it comes out of a mess-kit.”

Extremely fastidious, Oswald dives into a helmet for a bath no less than three times a day, emerges and shakes himself dry. Commented Pfc. Leo Panagopolous, paying Oswald the supreme compliment, “He’s got a wicked shake second only to Betty Grable.”

Pvt. Quack has demonstrated a weakness for the bottle, a vice which becomes apparent after he has consumed a small amount of vino before calisthentics.

Oswald’s chief duty is to wake the 1st Sgt. In the morning, a task which he sometimes performs with an excess amount of zeal. “If [he] doesn’t stop quacking at four in the morning,” remarked 2nd Lt. Clement Riley of New York City, “we’ll have duck dinner one of these days.”