Clearing the way: Osage Marine remembers service dog Cena

By Kate Hayden, khayden@charlescitypress.com

Iowa Marine veteran Jon North remembers meeting his canine partner for the first time in September 2010, when a 3-year-old black Labrador bounded out of a truck.

Knowing he would soon be deployed to Marjah, Afghanistan, North had volunteered to train as a dog handler with eight other Marines. On the day they met the dogs, his superiors lined the nine Marines up and said the dogs would come to them.

“They had a truck with all the dogs in there. They opened the door, and whoever the dog went to was their handler,” North said. “Some of the dogs ran back and forth. (Cena) beelined right for me.”

North would be the second of three handlers to work with Cena, who was euthanized last Wednesday, July 26, aboard a decommissioned Navy ship in Muskegon, Michigan, while rifle volleys sounded and taps played.

Cena was 10 years old, and had been battling bone cancer.

The military service dog lived with his first handler and fellow Marine veteran Jeff DeYoung for the last three years of Cena’s life, acting as a service dog to help DeYoung deal with post-traumatic stress.

In mid-July, when Cena was already ailing from the aggressive cancer, he received national attention after friends of DeYoung launched an online fundraiser that pledged nearly $45,000 in donations for a headstone and statue, the Washington Post reported.

“(DeYoung) wanted his last ride with Cena to be in a Jeep Wrangler with the top off. Over 100 jeeps showed up to volunteer,” North said. “I think that’s the way all the military canines should be treated. They don’t get enough credit.”

North and Cena deployed in late October 2010 to Afghanistan on a route clearance mission, and during patrols the two were often at the front searching for roadside bombs.

Dogs like Cena are trained to detect those bombs and other improvised explosives — and their handlers credit them with saving countless lives during the missions they serve.

“We just cleared the way for everybody behind us,” North said.

North was deployed twice after joining the Marines in April 2009, but Cena was his only canine partner.

“I don’t think (the dogs) get enough credit for what they do because they’re considered a tool,” North said. “They’re always a rank higher than their handler. … Everybody gets attached to the dog, even if people hate dogs — you end up loving the dog.”

“There were several times where my Marines would come over and pet him, and take their minds off something or whatever the case is,” he said.

There wasn’t much time for goodbye when North and Cena returned to the U.S. in May 2011. North grabbed his things and left Cena on a military plane — he wouldn’t see the dog again until this past month, when North visited Cena and DeYoung in Michigan for three days before Cena was put down.

“I didn’t see him for six or seven years. It was good to see him, but knowing that his time was close was kind of rough,” North said.

Now living in Osage, North has a dog of his own — a German Shepherd named Rocky, who North reports is happily spoiled.

“I’m bonded closely with Rocky as well, but Cena, it was just a different level,” North said.

“You grow such a bond with dogs over there, your life is in their hands. He saved my life several times, my Marines behind me, he saved their lives countless times,” he said. “It’s a bond you can’t really explain. He’s like a brother or a child to you.”