“There was something in Reckless that was also the best in the Marines, that quality that urged them onward beyond their natural strength and spirit.” Author Tom Clavin (THE HEART OF EVERYTHING THAT IS) revives the horrors and heroism of the Korean War (“a lot of courage, but little glory”) in this biography of a little Mongolian mare that became a deservedly decorated Marine sergeant and retired with full pension rights.

Destined for greatness, the mare was the offspring of a game racing dam and the charge, for a time, of a hard-working stable-boy and war waif, Kim Huk Moon. Though Kim knew her finer capabilities, he was forced to use her to seek out and haul junk to help the boy’s struggling family. But one day, he had a chance to put her out on the racetrack where she belonged. Marine Lt Eric Pedersen saw the horse racing and offered to buy her for $250, an enormous sum for Kim, cash he needed to stock up on survival goods and purchase a prosthetic leg for his sister.

"Clavin has studiously researched and clearly loves his subject matter --- not only Reckless, but also the courageous men with whom she worked."

Horses have been used in warfare since man first tamed them, and Reckless would be no exception. Though small, she could carry one-quarter of her weight in rifles and ammo.  Clavin has studiously researched and clearly loves his subject matter --- not only Reckless, but also the courageous men with whom she worked. Sgt. Joe Latham trained her to navigate the terrain with “holes in the ground gouged out by artillery and mortar blasts, and dead and wounded men to avoid stepping on,” hauling loads of shells or burdened with a heavy recoilless rifle. She was taught to kneel, fall and hide, and how to avoid barbed wire and communication cables. Again and again she was led through hell, until, to everyone’s surprise, she showed that she knew the route and, apparently gladly, would provide supplies to the front lines, or bear messages for wounded soldiers to the rear, without supervision.

One day during the grueling “Battle of the Nevada Cities,” Reckless made 51 such perilous solo runs. Wounded twice on her missions --- once near her eye, once on her flank --- Reckless displayed such heart and verve (sleeping with the men, eating their poker chips) that she became an inspiration to the troops.

When the war was over, Sgt. Reckless was shipped to the US, where, at a fete in her honor, she ate the cake and grazed through the flowers on the banquet tables. Awarded two Purple Hearts and a Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, she lived into old age as a mother, her food and lodging provided as retirement compensation by the Marine Corps.

At one point, Clavin recounts that there was talk of a film in which Reckless would have portrayed herself. But one can envision the need for a lot of equine doubles for such an undertaking now; it would be hard to find any one horse capable of taking on the role.