The family of a Claverdon soldier killed in action are now on a mission to save a charity which helped them bring his adopted dog home from Afghanistan.
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A FALLEN hero’s family wept as the stray dog he adopted on the front line bounded into their arms yesterday — after her rescue from Afghanistan.
Tears of joy filled the eyes of squaddie Conrad Lewis’s mum, dad and sister as they kept a promise they made to themselves after he was killed aged 22.
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CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y.- As staff Sargent Bob Cook’s family stood anxiously awaiting his arrival from a year-long tour in Afghanistan, due to airport policy, one very excited four-legged family member had to stay behind, to wait at home for the soldier who’d saved her life.
The last time Cook saw Rio she was a tiny puppy struggling to survive.
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Nowzad is a charity set up to relieve the suffering of stray and abandoned dogs, cats and other animals in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“Most people don’t realize the connection that Soldiers and animals make while in a combat zone,” said Lt. Col. Joseph Crocitto, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command Strategy and Policy Branch chief, G-3. “It is a bond that is not easily broken and to be able to have those animals come back to the states is a great thing for the Soldiers who befriended them.”
Nowzad was named after the village in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan, Now Zad, which the British Royal Marines arrived at in 2006. It was organized after Royal Marine Sgt. Pen Farthing and others became attached to some of the local dogs and cats and wanted to be able to bring them home once their tours were completed.
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New York, NY — The hugs and smiles… say it all. U-S service men and women reunited with the stray dogs they found in Afghanistan.
Petty Officer Zachary Henning was deployed for a year, but it wasn’t a true homecoming until Gus made it.
“I’ve been home for two months and I’ve been waiting for him ever since,” said Henning. “He helped me survive out there and now I’m going to give him a home and allow him to survive now.”
Specialist Sheila Schaffer says these stray dogs give nothing but love, and that’s how they’re saving lives.
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They bonded in the heat of battle in war-torn Afghanistan.
And these heart-warming pictures show how the stray dogs who helped soldiers through their toughest times are being thanked – with a new loving home.
US soldiers regularly make best friends with loyal Afghan dogs, who are invaluable companions on the front line and provide relief after days of brave and exhausting fire fights.
And now these lucky pets have been reunited with the servicemen who befriended them with while on duty
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2062550/Puppy-love-Heartwarming-pictures-stray-dogs-befriended-soldiers-Afghanistan-flown-thousands-miles-reunited.html#ixzz1fq8MHjdc
News cameras recorded the moving scene Nov. 16 when an American Airlines airlift to John F. Kennedy Airport in New York reunited beaming soldiers from across the United States with the wiggling, tail-wagging, face-licking puppies and dogs they had left behind in Afghanistan.
But there was no soldier there to meet Rio, the 4-month-old black-muzzled tan pup who was saved by Army Staff Sgt. Robert “Bob” Cook of Cheektowaga.
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SAN FRANCISCO — Ward Van Alstine is a tough U.S. Marine who, after a somewhat troubled life growing up in Santa Rosa, developed a sense of purpose amid the gunfire, bone-rattling explosions and death in Afghanistan.
The 22-year-old corporal said he became a man during two tours of duty in the war, but it took a starving, battered dog to help him through the worst of it.
UAE experts have helped rescue dozens of animals from war-torn Afghanistan.
Dubai Kennels and Cattery has been working with the charity Nowzad to rescue stray and abandoned animals and then house them in America, usually with military personnel and their families.
The latest batch of 15 animals – 14 dogs and a cat – arrived in Dubai this week on a flight paid for by American Airlines, and so far the kennel has helped relocate 82 animals. Todd Carson, managing partner at the firm, said: “We work with Nowzad to relocate animals from Afghanistan to other countries, mainly the US.
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With yelps and slobbery licks and kisses, some 14 dogs who began life as strays in Afghanistan were reunited Wednesday with the US service members who cared for them on the other side of the world.
“I’m going to take him to the park and let him run and run in the grass,” Zachary Henning said of his black and white charge, Gus, minutes after they reunited at JFK airport. “He’s never been in grass before.”
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