Posted on 08/23/2011 11:18:49 PM PDT by South40
Navy SEAL Jon Tumilson had a very close friend in his life – his dog, Hawkeye. Tumilson, a former San Diego resident, was killed August 6 in the Chinook helicopter crash that also claimed the lives of 29 other American servicemembers.
Tumilson’s funeral was on Friday in Rockford, Iowa at Rockford Senior High. Hawkeye was one of the 1,500 souls who attended. As you can see by the gut-wrenching photo on the right, Hawkeye refused to leave his master’s side during the service.
(Excerpt) Read more at homepost.kpbs.org ...
Had I passed before my Timber, I suspect he would have reacted very much the same. If my Ranger were brought to my graveside, he would view the fresh dirt as an invitation to find out just exactly what was worth burying there ;-)
My screen just got all blurry. sniff.
It’s a photo from “Final Salute” about the Marines that bring home their own. It is the pregnant wife of a deceased Marine, sleeping at the side of the casket the night before the burial.
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/06/04/books/20080605_SALUTE_SLIDESHOW_16.html
THe phenomenom of certain dogs remaining by the casket, or by the grave site, or at the train station has been reported so often that you have to believe that it is a real occurance. You have to wonder how the dog knows.
Do you remember the story about the lady whose daughter put her into a nursing home some miles from where either of them previously lived? The daughter took the dog to her house (I think the dog was a Blue Heeler) and when she and her husband were out to dinner, the dog scaled a 6 ft. fence and took 2 days to make it to the nursing home. He then circled the home until he found the mother’s window and sat underneath and barked.
The dog had never been there before and had been transported from the mother’s house directly to the daughter’s house (many miles away) and had never made a detour to the rest home, but somehow he found it. How?
As I remember, the nursing home staff allowed the dog to stay. I think that I saw this story on “Animal Miracles” which used to be a show on Animal Planet narrated by Allen Thicke.
That photo is from a few years ago. A fallen soldiers
wife would not leave her husbands side. It’s a very
moving image.
Ping for later
The best friend a man has in the world may turn against him and become his enemy. ... .
Near this spot
Are deposited the Remains of one
Who possessed Beauty without Vanity,
Strength without Insolence,
Courage without Ferocity,
And all the Virtues of Man without his Vices.
This Praise, which would be unmeaning Flattery
If inscribed over human ashes,
Is but a just tribute to the Memory of
BOATSWAIN, a DOG
Who was born at Newfoundland, May, 1803,
And died at Newstead, Nov 18th, 1808.
When some proud son of man returns to earth,
Unknown to glory, but upheld by birth,
The sculptor's art exhausts the pomp of woe,
And storied urns record who rest below:
When all is done, upon the tomb is seen,
Not what he was, but what he should have been:
But the poor dog, in life the firmest friend,
The first to welcome, foremost to defend,
Whose honest heart is still his master's own,
Who labours, fights, lives, breathes for him alone,
Unhonour'd falls, unnoticed all his worth,
Denied in heaven the soul he held on earth:
While man, vain insect! hopes to be forgiven,
And claims himself a sole exclusive heaven.
Oh man! thou feeble tenant of an hour,
Debased by slavery, or corrupt by power,
Who knows thee well must quit thee with disgust,
Degraded mass of animated dust!
Thy love is lust, thy friendship all a cheat,
Thy smiles hypocrisy, thy words deceit!
By nature vile, ennobled but by name,
Each kindred brute might bid thee blush for shame.
Ye! who perchance behold this simple urn,
Pass on --- it honours none you wish to mourn:
To mark a friend's remains these stones arise;
I never knew but one, --- and here he lies.
--George Gordon Noel, 6th Baron Byron [Lord Byron, who intended that he would be laid to rest beside his greatest friend, and so the other panel of the monument was left blank for Byron's epitaph. It did not turn out that way, and the panel remains blank.]
Why should it surprise us that an utterly special young troop would have an utterly faithful dog?
God bless and save them both.
If you start posting Kipling, I’m gonna cry all day.
(thanks though...it was beautiful)...:]
Amen
You should have warned us that this story has a potential to cause inexplicably blurry monitors. :-)
Need to find the focus knob on this flat panel monitor as it needs some adjusting.
Mine here as well....stay safe !
***sigh***
SEAL’s Best Friend.
It is sad that dogs have more feelings than our president.
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