It’s a story of love and war after Fort Campbell soldiers searching a cave in Afghanistan found an abandoned puppy.
Now, after 6 months, $2500, and nearly 7000 miles in the air, that dog has a new home in Louisville.Teri and Cliff Lemmons have been waiting for this day.
Their son, Corporal Michael Lemmons, serves in northern Afghanistan and made quite a find 6 months ago.
"His unit found this puppy in a cave in Afghanistan. It obviously had been abandoned. There was no mother around and it was alone in a cave so they took the dog back with them, stuck it in a duffle bag, and snuck it back to their headquarters,” said Terri Lemmons.
“Michael got really attached to the dog and called me one day and said mom i want to bring this dog home."
But Michael had to get the dog from the remote northern mountains to a shelter in the capital city of Kabul.
Then, after the Lemmons raised thousands of dollars, the dog flew 6700 miles across continents and oceans to JFK airport in New York Saturday night.
From there, Pilots-N-Paws took over flying Michael’s dog "Ally" home to Louisville where the anticipation grew waiting for that doggy in the window.
"If I’m this excited about this dog, I can't even imagine when my kids have kids," said Lemmons’ mother Terri.Lemmons and his dog were reunited by voice and soon in person and with big thanks to pilot John Lee.
"We thank you for what you do for the country," Lee told Lemmons.
"What we do is just so little compared to what he does over there so if I can help just a little bit that's what I wanted to do."
Ally had some company on the trip, Delilah, another dog found by a soldier from Texas who's adopting her.
Corporal Lemmons is finishing up his third tour of duty and is supposed to be home from Afghanistan later this month.
When he gets here, he'll face another battle between his mom, his girlfriend, and Ally for the first kiss.
