Hundreds of people gathered in Michigan to say their final tearful goodbyes to a cancer-stricken dog who served three tours in Afghanistan with the US Marines. Cena, a 10-year-old black lab, was given a hero’s farewell on Wednesday before being euthanized and carried away in a flag-draped coffin at the USS LST 393, a museum ship in Muskegon.Cena, who was recently diagnosed with terminal bone cancer, served as a Marine bomb-sniffer until his retirement in 2014.
Lance Cpl. Jeff Young, who was paired with the dog in 2009 and 2010 while on a combat tour in Afghanistan and adopted him in 2014, organized the Cena celebration. Cena was then trained to be DeYoung’s service dog to assist him with his post-traumatic stress disorder.DeYoung claimed to have carried Cena across rivers and thrown his body over him while under Taliban fire. He claimed that Cena kept DeYoung’s body warm on cold desert nights and consoled him after he lost seven friends in three weeks.
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