![]() Having twice been promoted to staff sergeant, Reckless would spend the rest of her life at Camp Pendleton in California, where she gave birth to one filly and three colts, according to .Īlthough her death in 1968 was front page news in the US, and she was buried with full military honors, the horse had become somewhat of a forgotten hero in the decades that followed.īut in recent years, the legend of Reckless has been resurrected, with a number of books being published and statues being unveiled at Virginia’s National Museum of the Marine Corps and Heritage Center in 2013 and at Camp Pendleton in 2016. Reckless, whose military decorations included two Purple Hearts, received a hero’s welcome when she was shipped from Korea to the US in 1954, with hundreds of people awaiting her arrival in San Francisco. READ: A guide to the races known as “The Classics” Reckless also enjoyed the occasional beer with her fellow Marines. “She also loved cake, Hershey bars, candy from the C rations, and Coca Cola – even poker chips, blankets and hats when she was being ignored – or if she was trying to just prove a point.” “She would eat anything and everything – but especially scrambled eggs and pancakes in the morning with her morning cup of coffee. Reckless Memorial Fund, wrote on a website dedicated to the horse. “Reckless had a voracious appetite,” Hutton, who is also president of the Sgt. Reckless, who would sleep in the soldiers’ tents at night, also endeared herself to her fellow Marines in a different way. “I believe an angel had to be riding Reckless, since she was alone and without a marine to lead her.” ![]() “The noise and waves of concussion can’t be described, but she endured it all,” said Wadley. “Reckless was a very special horse and undoubtedly bonded through a spiritual connection of love with her Marines,” said Wadley. During just one battle, she made 51 trips under enemy fire, most of them by herself, carrying a to… /TesWsZb2GD- War History Online March 22, 2018 ![]() She would be led a few times and then could make the trip to and from the ammo dump by herself. Sergeant Reckless delivered ammo to the recoilless rifle platoon’s firing sites. Wadley of the US Marine Corps, who served with Reckless during the Korean War, wrote in a foreword to Hutton’s book.Īt times, the Marines would use their own flak jackets to cover their comrade from incoming fire. “She was a critical lifeline to the guns that were firing in support of us,” Sgt. She was trained to lie down when under fire and to avoid obstacles such as barbed wire. After unloading the ammunition, Reckless would carry the wounded soldiers back down to safety, despite getting injured twice herself.Īstonishingly, Reckless did all of this mostly by herself whilst being under heavy enemy fire. ![]() Reckless played an important role during the Battle of Outpost Vegas in the final stages of the Korean War between US and Chinese armed forces in March 1953.ĭuring this five-day bloody battle, which is estimated to have cost the lives of 1,000 American and 2,000 Chinese soldiers, Reckless made 51 trips to resupply the guns with ammunition on one day alone.Īll in all, the small mare carried 386 rounds of ammunition, weighing almost 4,000 kilograms, by walking more than 35 miles through rice paddies and steep mountain trails. She bonded so deeply with them that Reckless would go anywhere and do anything to help her adopted family.” “Because horses are ‘herd’ animals, the Marines became her herd. “Reckless was all alone when she joined the Marines,” Robin Hutton wrote in her 2014 book “Sgt. Reckless earned several awards and decora… /4p12lveM58- War History Online May 28, 2017 Staff Sergeant Reckless (right) with her primary trainer, Platoon Gunnery Sergeant Joseph Latham. The cannon was often dubbed the “reckless” rifle because it was so dangerous to handle. ![]() The marines called her Reckless, after the recoilless rifle for which she carried ammunition. That toughness served her well when she became a pack animal trained to carry ammunition for the Anti-Tank Company of the 5th Marines in 1952. When a horse senses danger, its instincts tell it to run away as fast as possible.īut during the 1950-53 Korean War, one mare would run towards it: Staff Sergeant Reckless, the only horse in US history to have been promoted to the rank of sergeant.īought for $250 in 1952 by a US marine corps lieutenant at Seoul Race Track from a young Korean boy who needed the cash to buy his sister an artificial leg, the small horse would become America’s greatest war horse.Īlthough she was bred as a racehorse, she was part Jeju, a local breed known for its hardiness. ![]()
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