Robin Hutton

Lt. Eric Pedersen and RecklessMany of us recall the rave reviews that followed the London opening of the blockbuster play—now a movie—War Horse. As everyone drawing breath knows, the fictional story is about a boy who loses his horse—with which he has an uncommon bond—to the battlefields of World War I.

A friend, Herb Jonkers, just pointed me to the story of a real life war horse named Reckless, who was separated from her youthful owner during the Korean War and became one of the Marine Corps’ greatest heroes. In 1997, when Life Magazine published a special Collectors Edition titled “Celebrating Our Heroes,” the story of Reckless was included alongside the stories of other heroes such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, and Mother Teresa.