Robin Hutton

Robin Hutton has spent her adult life working in major event productions and the motion-picture business as a writer and producer. She is the author of the NY Times bestseller Sgt Reckless: America's War Horse and War Animals: The Unsung Heroes of World War II. She is also president of the non-profit Angels Without Wings (AWW), whose DBA The Sgt. Reckless Memorial Fund dedicated three of the six national monuments to the Korean War horse hero, Staff Sergeant Reckless. In 2019, Hutton and AWW instituted the Animals in War & Peace Medal of Bravery. This new medal is the highest US award for animals that have served and sacrificed in war and peacetime. In 2022, a new Distinguished Service Medal will be added to the awards. AWW is also developing a museum to honour these heroic animals.

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First recipients of the Animals in War & Peace Medal of Bravery

With the inaugural ceremony taking place on 14 November 2019 on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, USA, eight animals were deemed worthy to receive the first ever Medal of Bravery for "conspicuously distinguishing themselves by displaying gallantry and acts of valor within the performance of their duties". Five of these were dogs – Chips (a scouting dog stationed in North Africa in WWII), Stormy (a marine scout dog in the Vietnam War), Lucca (a specialized search dog with the US Marine Corps deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan), Bucca (a fire-scene investigation dog in New York City) and Bass (a multipurpose canine with the Marine Corps Special Ops posted to Afghanistan and East Africa). The other three recipients were two messenger pigeons – Cher Ami (WWI) and GI Joe (WWII) – and a horse, Staff Sergeant Reckless (a Korean mare that supplied ammunition to American troops during the Korean War).