Thank you, Marines and Mounted Police! Reckless, Carl, Houston and London Mounted Police- You Will Always Be Honored

Two of my favorite subjects are horses and history and I'm always thrilled when I can share something noteworthy that involves both.  I especially enjoy hearing details about specific individuals; not just about the events that took place.  Often times, all these amazing stories get lost for a long time until someone comes along and rediscovers them again.

I came across some very, very fascinating icons this week.  The first was about a little Mongolian  mare who became a marine in October of 1952.  She was about 14.1 and her favorite past time was drinking beer with her beloved marines. Reckless joined the Marines to carry ammunition to the front lines for the 75mm Recoilless Rifle Platoon of the 5th Marines and she quickly earned the love and respect for all of the Marines that served with her.  Lt. Eric Pedersen paid $250 of his own money to a young Korean boy, Kim Huk Moon for her .  The only reason Kim sold his beloved horse was so he could buy an artificial leg for his older sister, Chung Soon, who lost her leg in a land mine accident.

 You can't help but feel incredible pride after watching this:

The wonderful story behind this mare's memory is that she is getting a monument dedicated to her on July 26, 2013 in Quantico,VA at the National Museum of the Marine Corps. You can read more about the artist, Jocelyn Russell who is creating this fantastic memorial here.

You can follow along on the progress of the statue and get updates on new photos, stories, etc. here on Reckless'official Face Book page.  She also has a website here. 

The second story comes from a lovely lady I had a chance meeting with in Walmart.  How I came to meet her is a great story for another time.  In the course of our getting to know each other I learned that her father was in the mounted unit of the Pennsylvania State Police and that he had trained at Hershey.  I mentioned to her that we had horses and how much we love them and she mentioned she had some pictures tucked away somewhere.  Lo and behold, a few days later, I received an email with some fantastic pictures she had scanned.  (I tried to separate them through my photo editor, but after a frustrating round I decided to post them as I had received them in their original form; make sure you scroll through all the way to get the full view of these amazing pictures!)  Her email read, "all of the  pictures were either taken by him, or have him in them and since he died at the age of 95 a year or two ago, I don't imagine any of the other people in the pictures are still around either. You can always tell him in a line up-he's the tallest one at a generous 6'4"+."

She added, "Dad's name was Carl D. Copenhaver.  His horse's name is Shirley. She's a beauty, isn't she? The men all in white are marked 'trick team, 1940'."

She also went on to say that the photos are dated "between 1938-1948. Most of them (were) taken at Hershey, which I think was their headquarters. They used to perform every year at the PA Horse Show. ...(We) went every year for years when I was a kid."

I don't know about you, but I just get chills down my spine looking at these fantastic pictures.  During my short time researching the Pennsylvania Mounted Police, I also discovered an interview, given by another gentleman, Harold Trout, who had also served in this unit-it looks like he may have been there a bit earlier than Carl, (1936) but non-the-less, his account is a very interesting read about what influenced him to make the decision to apply for the patrol, how the men were accepted, and the training that they went through.  You can read the article here.

 I think it just adds even greater respect to all our state police troops in the early days as well as now in our present times.  I made friends with a gentleman on Facebook who is a mounted patrol officer in Houston.  He is also a wonderful inspiration.  He rides his horse bitless and barefoot.

His horse's name is Texan Star; here he is with a co-worker sharing a funny joke...

Patroling the Houston streets....

I will leave you for now with an impressive performance by some very talented police at the International Horse Show in London; check out when they remove their saddles as they are cantering. This gives you an idea of just how skilled these mounted troops really are.  It's hard for the average person to also consider the time it takes to train these horses to handle such diverse exercises and surroundings.  Remember, they are herd animals; their first instinct is to flee for protection, and it takes an incredible amount of trust and a really strong bond with their partners to allow themselves to be put into these situations which they would normally deem threatening, from extremely loud noises to fire and crowds.  

To all these tactical units, past and present, thank you all so much for your outstanding service and dedication.  We salute you for your hard work and dedication.