Albany K-9 Focus of National Petition

North Carolina congressman leading effort to convince the Marines to let slain Cpl. Dustin Lee’s parents adopt Lex, his canine fighting partner

By Kevin Hogencamp
Contributing Writer

A North Carolina congressman is championing a growing, Internet-aided effort to enable a slain Marine’s family to adopt his Albany-based military dog.

Cpl. Dustin Jerome “Dusty” Lee, 20, of Quitman, Miss., was stationed as a canine handler assigned to Headquarters Battalion, Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, when he was killed March 21 during mortar attack in Fallujah, Iraq.

Lee’s fighting partner, a German shepherd named Lex, sustained shrapnel wounds, and continues to serve the Marines in Albany, despite military officials’ earlier agreement to allow Lex to be adopted by Lee’s parents.

Now nearly 8 years old, Lex was on his last tour of duty in Iraq because of his age when he was wounded, and the bureaucratic roadblock has prevented the adoption from being consummated eight months after Lee’s death has prompted a petition drive.

“I will go to the mat to fight for this family,” Rep. Walter B. Jones, R-N.C., said Tuesday in a telephone interview from his home state. “I want to help this family have a part of their life back for a long time.”

Attached to the 3rd Recon Battalion, Lee died from wounds received while conducting combat operation in Anbar province. Lex, who has shrapnel in his spine that veterinarians left in place rather than risk further injury to the dog, is still classified as a working canine at MCLB.

Jones began advocating for the Lee family’s adoption of Lex on Nov. 12 after being contacted by a friend, John Burnam, founder of the National War Dogs Monument project in Washington, D.C. Jones has since communicated regularly with top Marine officials, who responded by ordering that Lex undergo an examination, to be conducted Monday, to confirm that he is suitable for adoption.

Jones says that just in case, he’s braced for a fight – a battle being waged by Burnam, Lee’s family, and nearly 2,000 people nationwide who have signed an online petition in less than a week – if necessary.

“Lex was (Dustin’s) last best friend and the last one to see Dustin alive,” Burnam, a Vietnam-era combat infantryman and German shepherd scout dog handler, and author of “Dog Tags of Courage” and “A Soldier’s Best Friends”, said Tuesday from Washington. “Lex will carry that shrapnel in his body for the rest of his life as a horrifying reminder of his best friend, Dustin. Hasn’t Lex and the Lee family suffered enough? There is no reason why he shouldn’t be with the Lee family — right now.”

Burnam knows the Lee’s plight. His first scout dog, Timber, was severely wounded by shrapnel from an exploding armored personnel carrier deep in the Vietnam jungle.

“We were … lucky to escape through the back door before it blew up, killing several soldiers. I, too, was wounded (and) Timber never recovered emotionally, so I know exactly the shocking bloody hell Lex went through.”

Jones said he was especially moved by “My Partner Dustin,” a tribute to Lee and Lex written by Burnam.

“I started reading it in front of him (Burnam), and I got teary-eyed,” Jones said, “and when I finished, I called a dear friend of mine, a Marine general, and he said, ‘Congressman, I’m going to look into this.’”

It’s being an exasperating journey for the Lee family that Jones predicts will have a fitting ending.

“It has touched my heart so much,” Jones said. “I have prayed to God at night that this will work out for this family, and I think that it will. You can never replace a son or a daughter, but if a son or daughter ever loved a dog as much as Dustin loved Lex, knowing that Lex was there with him in Iraq, and wounded with him, knowing that they bonded long before they were wounded together, this adoption would be a very fitting thing to happen. It just seems like it’s God’s will.”

Lee was a renowned dog handler due to his extraordinary abilities to work an explosive dog and narcotics dog simultaneously. The son of a state patrolman, Lee entered the Marines immediately after high school graduation. The Mississippi State Senate and House of Representatives posthumously recognized Lee as an All-American boy who gave his life so that others may know freedom.

The petition to encourage the Marine Corps to allow the Lee family to adopt Lex is online at www.retirelex.blogspot.com. A memorial fund is set up in Lee’s honor at BankPlus, P.O. Box 138, Quitman, MS 37355.