Today is the United States Marine Corp’s 246th birthday!And tomorrow (as we should everyday) we honor all veterans and thank them for their service to this country and for the freedoms we enjoy.Today, we’d like to bring attention to one Marine in particular, Sgt. RecklessThe United States Marine Corps has endured few firefights as tremendous as the Battle for Outpost Vegas in the waning months of the Korean War. With a roar that sounded like “twenty tornadoes tearing at a countryside,” according to one serviceman, more than 500 mortar and artillery rounds per minute deluged the mountaintop ridge where the Recoilless Rifle Platoon of the 5th Marines attempted to repel a Chinese assault on March 27, 1953. So much ordinance howled overhead that radar screens could only display a giant, useless blur and incoming and outgoing shells collided in mid-flight.As the sky fell on the Marines defending Outpost Vegas—so named because it would be a gamble to hold—they rejoiced as the silhouette of their beloved comrade emerged once again from the shroud of smoke that cloaked their position. All day long, their fellow Marine had traversed the “smoking, death-pocked rubble” to deliver fresh ammunition along with a badly needed boost of morale.Traveling alone on 51 round trips through a no-man’s land of rice paddies and scaling a 45-degree incline with bowed head and quivering legs, the solitary figure fought the natural instinct to flee and relied on training and fortitude to deliver nearly 9,000 back-breaking pounds of ammunition from the supply point to the gun teams.The platoon knew their heroic compatriot was no ordinary Marine—and it wasn’t just because she was a horse.Horses in war, what a debt we owe them.
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