War on terror

Lucca the Marine dog receives medal for service

A dog, who lost her leg when an IED detonated underneath her, received a medal for courage on Tuesday.

Lucca, a 12-year-old German shepherd, served two tours with the U.S. Marine Corps. She successfully completed 400 missions and protected the lives of thousands of troops during her six years of service, according to a statement from The People's Dispensary for Sick Animals, a British organization known as PDSA.

During her final mission on March 23, 2012, in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, an IED blew up underneath Lucca while she was on patrol. Her handler, Cpl. Juan Rodriguez, recounted the explosion in the PDSA press release.

"The explosion was huge and I immediately feared the worst for Lucca," Rodriguez said. "I ran to her and saw her struggling to get up. I picked her up and ran to the shelter of a nearby tree line; applied a tourniquet to her injured leg and called the medics to collect us.