Brian Jones: “Recently I introduced H.R. 4639, the Corporal Dustin Lee Memorial Act. What this bill would do is allow the adoption of…”

“Recently I introduced H.R. 4639, the Corporal Dustin Lee Memorial Act. What this bill would do is allow the adoption of military working dogs by the family of a deceased or seriously wounded member of the Armed Forces who was the dog's handler. And, Mr. Speaker, beside me I have the poster of a family from Mississippi whose son was killed for this country, Dustin Lee. He was a dog handler in Iraq. He was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade, and his dog, Lex, was wounded. The Marine Corps very kindly, at the funeral of Dustin Lee, carried Lex to be there with his master, and the family, Jerome, the daddy, and the mom, Rachel, asked the Marine Corps to please let the dog stay with them. The dog had two more years of service. This was brought to my attention. I called a very dear friend of mine, General Mike Regner, who's now in Afghanistan, told him the situation and said, Mike, is there anything we can do to help the Lee family adopt this dog, Lex? And so, long story short, Mr. Speaker, the Marine Corps contacted the Air Force, and the adoption took place 2 years ago in Albany, Georgia.”