[August 16, 2026] The “Devil Duck” was a real duck who served as an unofficial mascot with the 2nd Marine Division in the Pacific during World War II. This story tells us about the American military culture more than what we typically would see in history books.
In 1942–1943, while the Marines were staging in New Zealand, Sgt. Francis “Pappy” Fagan won the duck in a raffle (or, in some versions of the tale, a poker game) at a local pub. The Marines named her Sergeant Siwash after another Marine, Sgt. Jack “Siwash” Cornelius, and made her the unit’s mascot.
She followed Fagan around, developed a taste for beer (warm beer preferred, no drafts), and became a popular morale booster. The Marines initially thought she was male until she started laying eggs.
Siwash went ashore with the Marines during the brutal Battle of Tarawa (Betio Island in the Gilbert Islands) on November 20, 1943. The island was heavily fortified, the landing was extremely costly, and the Marines initially held only a narrow strip of beach under intense fire.
This is wild. According to the unit’s lore, the duck engaged a Japanese rooster in combat on the beach. One widely repeated account (later cited in official-sounding citation language) claimed she fought with “utter disregard for his own personal safety,” was wounded by pecks to the head, routed the rooster, and refused medical attention until other wounded members of her section had been cared for.
Fagan later told reporters the rooster “didn’t have a chance” and that Siwash chased it up the beach. There was talk of a Purple Heart, but instead she received a written citation for bravery. Some later recollections suggested the fight may have been exaggerated or even that the rooster got the better of her at first.
The nickname “Devil Duck” stuck from this episode (playing on the Marines’ “Devil Dogs” moniker).
Siwash continued with the division for the Saipan operation (mostly remaining aboard ship for safety) and the Battle of Tinian, where reports claimed she again hit the beach and “captured” a small Japanese duck. After Tinian her combat days ended.
“Devil Duck” now in the USMC National Museum
She returned to the United States with Fagan, received a hero’s welcome, and eventually lived at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo. She died in 1954 of liver disease (attributed in part to her beer-drinking habits). Her body was later taxidermied and presented to the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle, Virginia.
The story mixes documented details (the duck’s acquisition, rank/name, presence with the unit, beer habit, and postwar life) with wartime embellishment and Marine Corps humor typical of the era. It has been retold in Marine Corps publications, contemporary newspaper accounts, TIME magazine, and modern history pieces as a colorful piece of Pacific War lore.
I always love a good Marine story.
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Somewhere in the afterlife there’s a Japanese rooster still telling his buddies about the day a drunk American duck ruined his entire war. God bless Sergeant Siwash, proof that even a duck can live by the code. Great story to tell my grandchildren.