Ducks Aren’t the Only Quacks

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Not many can say they’ve been a physician, a flight surgeon and a fighter pilot. But Mayville’s Captain Glenn Thoreson certainly can.

Captain Thoreson headed to Vietnam in 1968 after attending medical school. He was a flight surgeon for the U.S. Air Force and received a unique nickname right from the start.

“Ah the quack is here!” yells Thoreson.

In 1968 Captain Thoreson met the pilots in his squadron and they greeted him with the nickname quack.

“”Wait a minute, quack? And the guy I was replacing Zack said, “Glenn. It’s okay, if they like you and you fly, and you learn and they get along with you. Quack is what they call you,”” said Thoreson.

As a doctor and a fighter pilot. Some days were dismal. After a plane explosion a fireman’s arm was severed off right next to him (thankfully surviving.)

“With the other fireman rescued him pulled him out, pulled him back away from it. He was bleeding, got a tourniquet and clams on him, stopped the bleeding, and got him to an ambulance,” said Thoreson.

 He received the Airman’s Medal for his heroism. Married 53 years, his wife Rose is his biggest fan.

When thinking about it Rose said, “He’s just, I’m going to start crying because i am just amazingly proud of my husband.”

 In 1969 in his last combat mission he landed with a surprise for everyone, he pulled up with a duck.

“Then I took the duck and threw him in the air and hence became quack with a duck,” said Thoreson.

 After returning home he practiced for almost 40 years, retiring in 2009. Serving his community was just as great as serving his country.