11/11/2022
On this Veterans' Day we want to take a moment to thank all the brave men and women who served our country and who continue to serve.
In honor of the animals who assist their human partners in the armed forces, we hope you'll enjoy reading the story of Staff Sergeant Reckless—small in size, but huge in heart and spirit, Reckless was a “Jeju” pony who became the real-life warhorse of the U.S. Marine Fifth Regiment during the Korean War; she is pictured below with Lieutenant Eric Pedersen, who bought her at a racetrack in Seoul for $250 and trained her to haul ammunition through the caos of war.
In particular, it was the savage Battle for Outpost Vegas in April 1953 that revealed the true extent of this mare’s courage and resilience. For the better parts of three days and nights, Reckless hauled ammunition—to the recoilless rifles by day and the mortar crews by night—with periodic breaks for water and feed, and short periods of sleep. Trained to travel by herself, she prompted one Marine to observe that she was so fast, no handler could keep up with her, anyway. She was wounded twice, patched up and resumed her work without hesitation. Time and again, her fellow Marines marveled at her resoluteness, as she maneuvered across areas where shrapnel was falling, and ran along the narrow berms beside the rice paddies, never stepping off into the mine-laden bogs.
In one day alone, during that terrible April siege, she made 51 trips to the recoilless rifles sites, in all traveling more than 35 miles. She carried 386 of the heavy shells, each weighing 20 to 23 pounds, depending on their content—a total of over 9,000 pounds of explosives. Then, descending the ridge to reload, she carried the wounded or dead on her back. It is acknowledged that because of what Reckless accomplished in battle, many Marines came home who might not have otherwise.
Source: the Horse Stars Hall of Fame, a joint program of the EQUUS Foundation and the United States Equestrian Federation
Read the full story at: http://www.horsestarhalloffame.org/inductees/64/staff_sergeant_reckless.aspx
Photo courtesy of United States Marine Corp