How I earned the ruptured duck

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At twenty, Leo Bogart joined the army in 1942, becoming one of sixteen million Americans who served in World War II. His letters home provide insight into the mind of a young intellectual navigating the complexities of war, transitioning from adolescence to adulthood. These correspondences, along with a narrative that fills in the gaps, reveal how the war engaged him long before he donned a uniform. After serving in the Army Signal Corps' enlisted reserve, he was inducted into active duty and entered the Army Specialized Training Program, later assigned to Signal Intelligence. His experiences ranged from peculiar encounters within the vast military structure to the European battlefront and unsettling confrontations with the defeated enemy. In 1946, he was honorably discharged, receiving a small gilt lapel pin, known as "the ruptured duck." While World War II has often been depicted in fiction and film through action and heroism, much of it also involved inaction, boredom, and a mix of errors and ingenuity. Bogart's detailed record captures the day-to-day realities of war, shedding light on aspects often overlooked in military histories focused solely on strategy, city captures, and casualty figures.