We here at Uproxx are huge war dog fanboys, as we are of dogs in general. But this story of a war dog remaining by the side of his Navy SEAL master killed in that recent horrific helicopter attack until the very end just ratcheted our unrelenting love for them up a notch.
Navy SEAL Jon Tumilson lay in a coffin, draped in an American flag, in front of a tearful audience mourning his death in Afghanistan. Soon an old friend appeared, and like a fellow soldier on a battlefield, his loyal dog refused to leave him behind.
Tumilson’s Labrador retriever, Hawkeye, was photographed lying by Tumilson’s casket in a heart-wrenching image taken at the funeral service in Tumilson’s hometown of Rockford, Iowa, earlier this week. Hawkeye walked up to the casket at the beginning of the service and then dropped down with a heaving sigh as about 1,500 mourners witnessed a dog accompanying his master until the end.
The photo was snapped by Tumilson’s cousin, Lisa Pembleton, and posted on her Facebook page in memory of the San Diego resident.
Good lord did I tear up reading that story. Dogs didn’t come to be known as man’s best friend for nothing, right?
Here’s a local news report on Tumlinson’s funeral I found on YouTube…