Chapter 34 "Thanksgiving" Summary

Milo throws a wild, drunken party for Thanksgiving. Yossarian wakes in terror to the sound of revelers firing a machinegun, and races out of his tent carrying a gun. He's intent upon killing the miscreants responsible. When Nately attempts to intervene, Yossarian violently smashes him in the face, breaking the boy's nose. Feeling guilty, and hearing that Nately is now under medical care, Yossarian and fellow faker Dunbar check into the hospital, where they are soon joined by Hungry Joe and a newly lying-liberated Chaplain.

Dunbar goes to pieces when he sees that the ward has a soldier in white, screaming feverishly that the original has returned. His panic spreads like wildfire across the ward, plunging everything into chaos. Dunbar insists that there is no one inside, that the cast is hollow. Nurse Duckett explains that a burn victim...