Providence Journal photos / Kathy Borchers
Lance Corporal Bradley O'Keefe and his sister Rachel Lawson, greet Earl, the bomb-sniffing dog, he worked with in Afghanistan.
Earl is retiring as a bomb-detection dog with the R.I. State Police and was given to O'Keefe, a Purple Heart recipient.
SCITUATE, R.I. -- A bomb-sniffing dog was reunited with his former handler, a Marine who received a Purple Heart for his injuries in Afghanistan, at a ceremony Friday at the Rhode Island State Police headquarters.
Former Lance Corporal Bradley O'Keefe traveled from his hometown in the Rochester, N.Y., area to be reunited with Earl, his former partner, whom he hasn't seen since the day the black Labrador retriever alerted O'Keefe to the presence of an explosive right before it blew up.
They are credited with saving the lives of O'Keefe's company.
Earl has been working as an explosives-detection dog for the state police, handled by Trooper Damien Maddox. Earl was retired at the ceremony, and Maddox will get a new dog.