Ashes of Marine dog buried at Michigan War Dog Memorial

LYON TOWNSHIP, Mich. – The ashes of a cancer-stricken service dog who served three tours in Afghanistan with the U.S. Marines have reached their final resting place.

The Detroit News and MLive.com report a couple hundred people gathered Saturday for the burial of Cena at the Michigan War Dog Memorial in Oakland County’s Lyon Township. The 10-year-old black lab was interred with other military service dogs.

State Sen. Mike Kowall says Cena “has done a fabulous job” and now “is welcomed home.”

The dog was a bomb-sniffer for the Marines until retiring in 2014. Cena became a service dog for Lance Cpl. Jeff DeYoung, the dog’s first wartime partner.

DeYoung organized a celebration last month in Muskegon that drew hundreds before Cena was euthanized at a museum ship and carried off in a flag-draped coffin.