Page 120 - January_2023

Sergeant Reckless during the Korean War pictured beside a 75mm recoilless rifle.
118 SPEEDHORSE January 2023
Platoon Sergeant Joe Latham training Reckless to step over wire.
Once the filly reached the platoon’s base, the soldiers hurried to get her acclimated. First, they renamed her Reckless – a nickname for both recoilless rifle and the daring soldiers who wielded it. Soon after the filly arrived at camp, Pedersen tasked a gunnery sergeant named Joseph Latham with preparing their new charge for life on the front lines. The sergeant rose to the occasion magnificently. During the next few weeks, Latham and a private named Monroe Coleman (along with several others) taught Reckless how to avoid barbed wire and lie down under fire. Perhaps most impressively, she even learned to shelter in a bunker when she heard the cry, “Incoming!”
Reckless also provided the soldiers with much needed affection and amusement. Although Pedersen originally planned to keep her in a nearby pasture, the filly proved so intelligent that he gave her free rein to roam through the camp. Her gentle disposition – and frequent antics – quickly endeared her to the entire platoon. They happily let her sleep in their tents. On cold nights, Reckless usually bedded down next to Latham’s stove.
To their glee, the soldiers discovered that Reckless was inordinately obsessed with their food. She became notorious for eating virtually anything, including bacon, buttered toast, hard candy, mashed potatoes, cereal, peanut butter sandwiches, scrambled eggs, an Australian soldier’s hat, and her own blanket. Better still, the filly enjoyed drinking beer and Coca-Cola. One memorable night, Reckless even wolfed down $30 of Latham’s (winning) poker chips.
Although the filly was always at ease around the soldiers, she was on less friendly terms
with some of the army’s other animals. When Reckless was still living in her pasture, a pair
of mascot dogs from the Tank Division ambled up to her on a “friendly sniffing mission.” The filly reacted viciously. “Flame saw them,” one soldier remembered, “and went into a tantrum. With ears flattened and teeth bared, she went slashing at them. The startled Marines dropped their tools and went running to their friend. The dogs ran screaming from the pasture and didn’t stop until they were crouched under the protection of a friendly Pershing tank a half mile away.” While the soldiers were initially surprised by Reckless’ sudden outburst, they realized that the filly was beside herself with fear. “Her eyes flashed a white rim,” the
same witness recalled, “and she trembled.”
In an effort to soothe her, Monroe Coleman murmured, “Easy, Reckless, take it easy little horse.” In a louder voice, he remarked, “Guess she doesn’t like dogs.”
“That,” a staff sergeant observed dryly, “is the understatement of this war.”
Towards the end of the year, Pedersen determined that Reckless was “ready for
Sergeant Joe Latham with Reckless.
© USMC photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
©Andrew Geer or another member of United States Marine Corps, Public domain, via Wikimedia
©USMC photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Commons