His mother Tille was from Bessarabia. Playing what later came to be called "swet" music rather than jazz, Duchin opened a new gate for similarly styled, pia- no-playing sweet bandleaders such as Henry King, Joe Reichman, Nat Brandwynne, Dick Gasparre, Little Jack Little, and particularly Carmen Cavallaro to compete with the large jazz bands for radio time and record sales. Duchin's 1938 release of the Louis Armstrong song "Ol' Man Mose" (Brunswick Records 8155) with vocal by Patricia Norman caused a minor scandal at the time with the lyric "bucket" being heard as "fuck it". Some listeners conclude that there is no vulgarism uttered, while others are convinced that Norman does say "fuck". The "scandalous lyrics caused the record to zoom to No. 2 on the Billboard charts, resulting in sales of 170,000 copies when sales of 20,000 were considered a blockbuster. The song was banned after its release in Great Britain. The notorious number can be heard on a British novelty CD, Beat the Band to the Bar. Duchin entered the U.S. Navy during World War IL, serving as a combat officer in a destroyer squadron in the Mediterranean and Pacific. He at- tained the rank of lieutenant commander (04). Duchin's military awards included the Navy Commendation ribbon with Combat "V", Combat Action ribbon, Ameri- can Area Campaign medal, the European-Africa-Middle Eastern Area Campaign me- dal, the Asiatic-Pacific Area Campaign medal, and the World War I Victory medal.