An honorable discharge for Lucca
July 5, 2012 6:22PM
Cpl. Juan Rodriguez walks Lucca through American Airlines Terminal 3 at O'Hare Airport on Thursday. Lucca suffered an injury from an IED blast that resulted in the amputation of her left front leg, leading to her retirement from military service. | Richard A. Chapman~Sun-Times
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Lucca, a military working dog, gets an honorary sendoff at O’Hare Airport, heading to Finland to live with her original handler. Lucca, an eight-year-old Belgian Malinois and two-time Iraq veteran who served one tour in Afghanistan, specialized in detecting trace amounts of explosive compounds, a role she was extremely successful at. While on more than 400 patrols during her nearly two years overseas, Lucca had more than 40 confirmed finds and saved the lives of countless Marines. On her last deployment she suffered an injury from an IED blast that resulted in the amputation of her left front leg, leading to her retirement from military service.
