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thedrifter
02-12-09, 08:15 AM
Official helps family of fallen Marine adopt his dog

By SEAN MUSSENDEN
Media General News Service
Published: February 12, 2009

WASHINGTON-Cpl. Dustin Lee and his bomb-sniffing German shepherd Lex were patrolling Iraq’s Anbar province when an insurgent’s rocket-propelled grenade cut them down.

As Lee lay dying, his gravely injured dog lifted his shrapnel-filled, fuzzy brown and black frame onto his partner’s mortally wounded body and stayed there until medics arrived.

“He was still protecting him until the end,“ said Cpl. Lee’s mother, Rachel Lee. “Lex was bleeding. Dustin was bleeding. Their blood combined. They were already brothers and partners. They just became one.“

Lee’s parents - and his teenage brother and sister - knew that nothing could replace Cpl. Lee after he was killed in the March 2007 attack. But they thought that adopting the dog that survived the attack would help fill the emotional chasm.

“When I look into his eyes, I can see the spirit of my son,“ Rachel Lee said.

The adoption seemed like a no-brainer. The family had a long history of training dogs. They had previously adopted another of their son’s military working dog after the animal started going blind and had to retire.

But they quickly found out that negotiating the military bureaucracy was anything but simple. Doctors repaired Lex, and he was declared fit to return to non-combat duty. Because he was technically healthy, military regulations prevented the family from adopting the dog for at least two years.

For eight months, the Lees’ requests for immediate adoption were denied. Then a North Carolina congressman, Republican Rep. Walter Jones, heard of their struggle.

Jones, whose eastern North Carolina district includes the Marines’ Camp Lejeune, once raised German shepherds. And in 2007, he helped pass legislation to authorize a national memorial for military working dogs.

John Burnam, who handled a military dog in the Vietnam War, worked with Jones on the memorial legislation and wrote a story about the Lees. He shared it with Jones in November 2007.

“I tell you, it brought tears to my eyes,“ Jones said. “It was only the right thing to do to make sure that part of Dustin’s life returned to his family.“

Jones immediately sent the story to Brig. Gen. Mike Regner, the Marine congressional liaison, who pled the Lees’ case to his superiors. A few weeks later, Lex was given early retirement and headed home to the Lee’s house in Quitman, Miss.

Regner said he believed it was the first such legal exception given for the early adoption of a military working dog.

“I told (my superiors), it’s the right thing to do for the family. Let’s make it happen,“ Regner said. “When Walter calls me, it’s hard to say no.“

Jones was given an award by the Humane Society of the United States Tuesday for helping to facilitate the adoption, and the Lees and Lex attended the emotional ceremony.

Beforehand, the Lees met with Jones in his congressional office. A picture of Lex staring at Dustin’s grave hangs on one wall, alongside stories and pictures of other fallen Marines.

While the humans told stories about Cpl. Lee and wept, Lex lay on a carpet that featured the North Carolina seal, occasionally closing his big brown eyes to nod off after a long day of walking around Washington.

He lifted his head, sniffed and stared when someone said his name, such as when Jones told the Lees, “Just like your son, Lex is a hero.“

Attached to Lex’s collar was an honorary Purple Heart, a picture of him with Cpl. Lee, Cpl. Lee’s dog tags, and Lex’s sergeant pin, one rank higher than Cpl. Lee’s. Lex, it seemed, had the upper hand in their relationship.

Lex, 8, has lived with the Lees for slightly more than a year. He gets stiff in the morning and has to stretch a lot. Though he has shrapnel in his back near his spine that doctors couldn’t remove, he is healthy and doing okay, said Jerome Lee, Cpl. Lee’s father.

“From day one, Lex came in like a member of the family, like he always belonged there,“ he said.

Cpl. Lee died just two weeks shy of his 21st birthday, and six weeks before he was scheduled to return from Iraq.

Though he did not make it back, Rachel Lee said that “to have Lex with us means we still have a part of Dustin with us.“

(Sean Mussenden can be reached at smussenden@mediageneral.com or 202-662-7668)

Video

http://www.eprisenow.com/ent/news/local/article/official_helps_family_of_fallen_marine_adopt_his_d og/58961/

Ellie