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Family Adopts Dead Marine’s Best Friend

By Associated Press

A bomb-sniffing German shepard, wounded in Iraq by an explosion that killed its handler, will be released from duty so it can be adopted by the dead Marine's family in Mississippi. Family Adopts Dead Marine’s Best Friend

Published: Wed, December 12, 2007 - 1:51 pm Last Updated: Wed, December 12, 2007 - 2:01 pm

ALBANY, Ga. (AP) - The Marine Corps said today that a
Georgia-based military dog wounded in Iraq by an explosion that
killed its handler will be released from duty so it can be adopted
by the slain Marine's family.
Officials say the adoption of the eight-year-old German
shepherd, Lex, by the family of fallen Marine Corporal Dustin
Jerome Lee marks the first time the U.S. military has granted early
retirement to a working dog so it could live with a former
handler's family.
Lee's family from Quitman, Missississippi, is scheduled to pick
up Lex from the Marine Corps Logistics Base in Albany on December
21st. That is nine months after a rocket-propelled grenade killed
Lee and wounded Lex in Fallujah on March 21st.
The Lee family lobbied the military for months to allow it to
adopt Lex. Though some shrapnel remains lodged in his back, Lex has
otherwise recovered from his wounds and has been serving alongside
military policemen at the Albany base since July.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)