Staff Sergeant Reckless, a war horse who delivered critical ammunition and evacuated wounded Marines during the Korean War, is the only nonhuman member of a U.S. military branch to receive official rank promotions and military decorations. She was promoted by the Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Randolph McCall Pate. LIFE magazine listed her among America’s top 100 all-time heroes.

    As a true American hero, she deserves the honor of an Arlington National Cemetery burial alongside her fellow veterans. Both General Pate, who promoted her, and Andrew Geer, who wrote the first book about her and helped her return from Korea to the US, are buried there. So are many Korean war veterans. As an official Purple Heart recipient, SSgt. Reckless has earned burial at a national cemetery.

    In the Battle of Outpost Vegas, one of “the fiercest clashes ever fought by the United States Marine Corps,” (Hutton, Sgt. Reckless America’s War Horse 2014 p.75) SSgt. Reckless made 51 trips over rough terrain to deliver rifle shells and evacuate wounded Marines. She is estimated to have carried over 9,000 pounds of explosives and to have traveled over 35 miles in a single day. Under heavy fire, she made 95% of her deliveries alone, without another Marine to guide her.

    During the battle, SSgt. Reckless was wounded twice: by shrapnel above her left eye, and then again on her left flank. Despite her wounds, she continued to do her job as “she was getting hailed all over the place” by bullets (Sgt. Chuck Batherson). Another Marine who witnessed her in action, Sgt. Harold Wadley, said:

    “They would tie a wounded Marine across her packsaddle and she would carry them out of there with all of this artillery and mortars coming in. The guys down at the bottom would unload the wounded off of her and tie gun ammo on her and she would turn around right on her own and head right back up to the guns.”
    “I looked through the flickering light at the hillside beyond and could hardly believe my eyes. In all that intense fire, in the middle of that chaos, the image of that small, struggling horse—putting everything she had into it, struggling up that ridge loaded with 75 mm rounds…it was unbelievable.”
    “The spirit of her loneliness and her loyalty, in spite of the danger, was something else to behold. Hurting. Determined. And alone. That’s the image I will always remember. That’s the image I have imprinted in my head and heart forever.”

    She is currently buried at Camp Pendleton in California. However, SSgt. Reckless deserves a proper burial at Arlington National Cemetery, or alternatively Quantico, alongside her fellow soldiers. She is a true Marine. This burial will not take away a plot for a human military veteran
and we will not request government funding for this project.

    Please take a moment to sign this petition, and share it with family and friends. And if you are a veteran, please say so. Out of respect for the VA and the Army National Cemeteries, please don’t contact them directly as we do not want to divert time and resources from the needs of other veterans’ claims. Once we have enough signatures, we will submit this petition along with our burial request.

V/R—Dylan Clark