Horses in History

HORSES IN HISTORY

Sgt. Reckless, U.S.M.C. Korean War Horse Hero

by N. G. Quinlan

Staff Sergeant Reckless monument dedication ceremony. Image: Sgt Dylan Overbay.

In the Korea Strait there lies a volcanic island named Jeju. In the thirteenth century, after invading and capturing Korea, the Mongolian army established a grazing area on Jeju for their many cavalry horses. From this ancient bloodline came one of the greatest equine heroes in history… the sorrel mare who would come to be known as Sergeant Reckless.

In October 1952, when U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant Eric Pedersen needed a pack animal to carry ammunition, he paid $250 from his own funds to purchase a mare at the racetrack in Seoul. The reluctant seller, a young Korean boy named Kim Huk Moon, had one very special reason for selling his much-loved horse. His older sister Chung Soon had lost her leg to a land mine and young Kim needed the money to purchase a prosthetic limb for her.

Through an interpreter, Kim told Pedersen that the mare’s name was Ah-Chim-Hai, which means ‘Flame of the Morning’. She was aged four years and three months, stood just over thirteen hands high and had a white blaze from forehead to muzzle. Though she was relatively small – a result of her Mongolian heritage – Lt. Pedersen liked the look of her, later saying that she possessed “an intelligent eye and fine head”. He brought her back to his unit, the Recoilless Rifle Platoon of the 5th Marines.

Lt. Pedersen was a lifelong horseman who had grown up in Wyoming and Arizona. He knew that the horse would be no mere mascot, but would become an invaluable member of his platoon. When he first drove into camp with the filly in tow on a makeshift float, some of the men doubted his sanity. There were a few who even wondered if the horse had been brought to them for food. Yet as the young lieutenant explained his plan, the soldiers began to see the sense of it all.

The recoilless rifle was a large weapon which fired 75mm shells, each one weighing twenty-four pounds. The rifle, which was more like a bazooka or small cannon than a rifle, was almost seven feet long, weighed one hundred and fifteen pounds (or about fifty-two kilograms) and required three men to lift it. The weapon had a massive backblast that was not only dangerous to anyone standing behind it, but also served to alert enemy troops as to its whereabouts. It soon became known as the ‘Reckless Rifle’, partly as a play on its actual name and partly because it was thought that a soldier had to be somewhat reckless to use it.

The mare became a favourite of the Marines and was soon given the name Reckless. She would eat anything and everything, including pancakes, scrambled eggs, Hershey bars, beer, coffee, blankets, hats and, on one occasion, $30 worth of poker chips. Her gentle nature meant that she was allowed to roam at will throughout the camp. During the colder nights, she would often enter the soldiers’ tents and lie down next to a stove.

In March of 1953, the Marines were struggling to retake a rugged hilly area known as Outpost Vegas. In one memorable day, Reckless made a total of fifty-one trips up the steep slopes and carried three hundred and eighty-six rounds of ammunition from the supply point to the firing line. The total weight of her burden was almost five tons, and all of it was carried while the battle raged and shells exploded around her at a rate of about five hundred

TOP LEFT: Sergeant Reckless by a 75mm recoilless gun. TOP RIGHT: U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Reckless prepares to go to Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton after serving in the Korean War with the 5th Marine Regiment (Image by 94th Airlift Wing). BOTTOM: Reckless was promoted from Sergeant to Staff Sergeant at Camp Pendleton in 1959.

every minute. Often she would carry a wounded soldier back with her and even though she was wounded twice herself, the brave mare keep on working.

Reckless was promoted to the rank of sergeant the next year. Her story became known to the American public due to a couple of articles written by Lieutenant-Colonel Andrew Geer, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines. People heard how the Marines would sometimes throw their own flak jackets across Reckless’ back to protect her, leaving themselves open to injury. The little mare became a national hero and a campaign was launched to bring her back to the United States. On November 10th 1954, Lt. Pedersen led Reckless off the transport ship and she set foot on U.S. soil for the first time. By sheer coincidence, the date was also the 179th anniversary of the Marine Corps.

Reckless was later promoted again, this time to the rank of Staff Sergeant. She lived out her life at Camp Pendleton in Southern California, passing away on May 13th, 1968. During her military career she was awarded almost a dozen medals, including two Purple Hearts for wounds suffered during the Battle of Outpost Vegas. To date, there are six monuments dedicated to the chestnut mare and in 1997, when TIME magazine published a list of the one hundred all-time greatest American heroes, Sgt. Reckless was listed alongside such luminaries as Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson… not bad, for a pint-sized Mongolian filly.