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Dog with two Purple Hearts helps injured Marine

Posted at 5:22 PM, Sep 07, 2013
and last updated 2013-09-07 17:23:16-04

Richmond, Va.  –  Behind McGuire Veterans Hospital in Richmond, two very different heroes are healing.

Marine Sgt. David Tupper is recovering from combat-related injuries he suffered in Afghanistan.

Yeager, a K-9 unit member with two Purple Hearts, is helping the Marine through a difficult time.

If Yeager could talk, the black Labrador retriever might tell you that it’s Sgt. Tupper who’s helping him.  You see, Yeager is a hero himself.  The 7-year old served through one tour in Iraq and two in Afghanistan.  He sniffed out over 100 improvised explosive devices or IEDs, according to our sister station WTVR.

Tupper was part of a bomb disposal unit as well.

“Yeager saved a lot of lives for actually finding those IEDs, going out in front of us and sniffing for them,” said Tupper.

On Yeager’s last deployment, his handler, Lance Corporal Abraham Tarwoe, was killed by a roadside bomb.  Yeager also took shrapnel in his nose and chest and lost part of an ear.

Read more about Sgt. Tupper and Yeager and their paths to recovery at WTVR.com.