[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 38 (Tuesday, March 16, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H1489]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    CORPORAL DUSTIN LEE MEMORIAL ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, 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.
  I have beside me a photograph taken by the family. Lex, the dog, is 
looking at the headstone that's got an engraving of Dustin Lee and Lex, 
and it says, ``In loving memory of Corporal Dustin Jerome Lee.''
  Mr. Speaker, what happened was as soon as they got the dog home, Lex, 
the German Shepherd, they allowed Lex to sniff the boots of their son, 
Dustin, who had been killed, and then they took Lex to the cemetery. 
I've seen photographs of the cemetery. It's a rather large cemetery. 
And they took the dog, Lex, away from the area, then they let him out 
and said, Find Dustin; find Dustin. And the dog ran up to the headstone 
and laid down.
  I hope that my colleagues will join me in this effort to allow a 
family of a deceased soldier, marine, airman, whomever, that maybe was 
a dog handler who was killed for this country, or the seriously wounded 
soldier, marine or airman or seaman who was wounded be able to adopt 
the dog without going through a long process.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I again will ask my colleagues to please join us in 
H.R. 4639.
  And before I close, as I always do on the floor of the House, I ask 
God to please bless our men and women in uniform. I ask God to please 
bless the families of our men and women in uniform. I ask God, in his 
loving arms, to hold the families who have given a child dying for 
freedom in Afghanistan and Iraq.
  And, Mr. Speaker, I will ask God to please bless the House and 
Senate, that we will do what is right in the eyes of God for this 
country. And I will ask God to give wisdom, strength, and courage to 
President Obama, that he will do what is right for the people of this 
country.
  And three times I will say, God please, God please, God please 
continue to bless America.

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