Slowly the nag continued toward us. Any minute now we were all going up in smoke! Finally, it reached the ribbon marking the boundary between the minefield and the trail. It looked at the tape and gracefully, I kid you not, stepped over it and onto the trail.
One of the riflemen tiptoed quietly over to it, whispering gently. The horse neighed softly, nuzzling the man's proffered hand. Quickly the Marine seized the hanging reins and gained control of the animal. We breathed a long sigh of relief. I checked my crotch to make sure that I hadn't wet myself.
All clear. We radioed the OPs with the report of the capture. They didn't believe it until the horse let out a whinny while the transmitter was depressed. Then they were babbling and laughing at the outrageousness of the encounter. The mystery of the noises in the minefield was solved.
We brought the nag back to the main base, greeted as conquering heroes. Someone shouted, this was our first defector! As we checked her out, it was a mare, we found that she was indeed carrying rolls of wire, Chinese comm wire. Well, that was a bonus; we were always in need of comm wire, even if this stuff appeared to be of inferior quality. Don't look a gift horse in the wire.
An infantry gunnery sergeant from Kentucky offered to take care of the noble steed. And it looked as though it could use some care. Obviously the Chinese soldiers did not take very good care of their animals. She was sway-backed with ribs protruding obscenely from her sides. The gunny assured us that he would get her back in shape in no time.
The following day we began to build a shelter for her. Everyone chipped in to work as this was now our unit's mascot. A name, we must have a name for her. The gunny noted that the white coloring on her forehead extending down to her nostrils was called a blaze. Right away several voices shouted out, "Let's call her Blaze!" The gunny offered, "What about Blaze of Glory!" So be it. Blaze of Glory it was.
A few days later, a combat reporter came by, having heard of the incident. He asked about the events that had occurred and inquired as to the horse's name. About a week later we received a copy of "The Scout," the First Marine Division's newsletter. Heading up the front page was the headline, "Through the Minefield Came a Blaze of Glory!" followed by the story of the horse's "defection" and subsequent naming.
Blaze remained with us through the rest of our tour. She regained her health thanks to excellent care by the gunny. Eventually she was enlisted as a bearer of supplies to the outposts and again as a wire carrier. She was the darling of the unit, now and then receiving treats from most of the troops. The gunny always insured that she wasn't given anything that would upset her digestion.
She never became as famous as Sergeant Reckless, the ammo-carrying horse of the Fifth Marines. Maybe that was because Reckless was wounded in battle. However, to the troops of the First Provisional Platoon there were none better than Blaze of Glory.
It was a sad day when the Division turned over our positions to the Army in preparation for our return to the States. We had to leave Blaze behind. Strict instructions were given to the soldiers who replaced us. The gunny advised them in his guttural voice, "You take real good care of her. If I hear otherwise I'll come back to take names and kick asses!"
No doubt about it.
* * *
About the author: John Henson enlisted in January 1953 — boot camp, ITR, and straight to Korea. MOS was 2511 — Wireman. Learned to climb with ankle hooks as soon as he reached his first Marine unit, H&S Battery 2nd Bn 11th Marines. Due to a shortage of FOs, he was assigned to the FO unit out of D-2-11, attached to H-3-7. As casualties mounted, he became the radio operator and eventually the team's Scout sergeant. Stayed with the battery until the 1st MarDiv returned to the USA in 1955. Spent a year or so at Camp Pendleton, then was transferred to the1st MAW (MACS3), then back to Korea. The squadron was moved to MCAS Iwakuni in 1956. He stayed with the Wing for the rest of his tour, and was discharged in November 1957.
