"...Sergeant Reckless was chestnut colored with a blaze and three white stockings. Her date of birth and parentage are unconfirmed, but she was estimated to be around three or four years old when she was purchased by members of the United States Marine Corps in October 1952. She was sold to the Marines by her owner, a young Korean stableboy called Kim Huk Moon, though that was not his real name. The horse was originally named Ah Chim Hai in Korean, which translates to 'Morning Flame' or 'Flame-in-the-Morning', also reputed to be the name of her dam, a racehorse at the track in Seoul. Moon sold the horse, whom he had nicknamed 'Flame,' to Lieutenant Eric Pedersen for $250 in order to buy a leg prosthesis for his sister, who had stepped on a land mine. The horse's breeding was thought to be primarily Mongolian though she did have some features, particularly the shape of her head, that were similar to horses of Thoroughbred lineage. She was small, standing only 14 hands (56 inches, 142 cm) and weighing 900 pounds (410 kg). ..." W Sergeant Reckless

This is the story of Sgt. Reckless - a Mongolian mare purchased by a Marine Corps lieutenant for $250 during the Korean War. One of Reckless' finest hours came during the Battle of Outpost Vegas in March of 1953. During this five-day battle, 28 tons of bombs and hundreds of the largest shells turned the crest of Vegas into a smoking, death-pocked rubble. And Reckless was in the middle of all of it. On one day alone she made 51 trips from the Ammunition Supply Point to the firing sites, 95% of the time by herself. She carried almost five tons, walked over 35 miles through open rice paddies and up steep mountains with enemy fire coming in at the rate of 500 rounds per minute. And as she so often did, she would carry wounded Marines down the mountain to safety, unload them, get reloaded with ammo, and off she would go back up to the guns. She also provided a shield for several Marines who were trapped trying to make their way up to the front line. Wounded twice, she didn't let that stop or slow her down.

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