By Charles Teter
Circleville
During the Korean War the American soldiers versus the Chinese soldiers were battling each other over a hill named Vegas.
When the American forces would fire an artillery gun, it was so loud it gave their position away. The American soldiers had to carry the shells up the hill to the big guns. The shells weighed 25 pounds and the soldiers became tired from carrying the shells up the hill. Someone said, “why don’t we get a horse?”
There was a Korean farmer who had a mare and he traded the horse for an artificial leg for his wife. The soldiers named the horse Reckless. She was trained by an American soldier to carry the shells up the hill and wounded and dead soldiers back down the hill.
Reckless was trained to walk through mine fields and to watch out for wire stretched over the ground. She was trained to go up and down the hill by herself and to elude the enemy soldiers. She was wounded once by shrapnel but not seriously. She was awarded the Purple Heart and given the rank of sergeant. She saved a lot of American lives. After the war ended, she was brought back to the United States. A statue of her is mounted in Quantico, Virginia.
One can go on the internet and read the whole story about her. It is quite interesting. Do so, because it shows how an animal can be trained to protect our soldiers and not even complain.
