Sergeant Reckless

Reckless with her instructor Joseph Latham

Reckless under attack in Korea

Reckless with a recoilless 75mm gun

Staff Sergeant Reckless (* 1948 - † May 13, 1968 ) was a medal-awarded war horse , which was awarded its own rank by the US military.

Life

The fox mare had a blaze and three white legs . She was believed to be of Mongolian descent. It was bought in October 1952 from a Korean stable boy at Seoul Race Park who wanted to buy a prosthetic leg for his sister.

Reckless was a member of the United States Marine Corps and was trained as a packhorse for the 1st Marine Division . Reckless learned survial techniques such as not getting tangled in barbed wire or lying down when she came under fire. At the command “Incoming!” She learned to run into the bunker. She quickly became the unit's darling and was allowed to walk around the camp freely. She entered the soldiers' tents, where she was allowed to sleep on cold nights and was known for eating almost everything, from scrambled eggs to ham, beer, cola, chocolate bars and once a poker chip that was worth $ 30.

She served in numerous clashes during the Korean War , where she supplied the troops with ammunition and supplies, evacuated the injured and helped lay telephone cables . After just a few inspections, she knew new supply routes by heart, so that she could be sent off without a guide. The climax of her nine-month military career came in March 1953 during the Battle of Outpost Vegas, when she completed 51 unaided tours in a single day, supplying the front lines with ammunition. There was an order that Reckless was not to be ridden. Contrary to this instruction, someone rode her through a minefield in December 1952 , but she was not harmed.

She was wounded twice and promoted to corporal in 1953 . A few months after the war ended, she was promoted to sergeant in 1954. She was the first horse in the Marines to be present in an amphibious vehicle landing . She has received two Purple Hearts , a Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal and Presidential Unit Citations, and other military honors.

Her military service was featured in the Saturday Evening Post . LIFE magazine listed her as America's One Hundred Greatest Heroes. She has appeared on television and attended the United States Marine Corps Birthday Ball. In 1959 she was promoted to Staff Sergeant from the Commandant of the Marine Corps . She had four foals and died in May 1968. Her statue is in the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Virginia , as well as in the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky .