EDINBURG — “Thank you for bringing my son home,” Oralia Alvarado said, leaning down to wrap her arms around the neck of a big black labrador retriever lying in a blanketed wagon on the outskirts of town Thursday.
Saying farewell to Sgt. Fieldy was obviously emotional for Alvarado. It was particularly emotional for her son, Nick Caceres, a Marine veteran who served as Fieldy’s handler on one of the dog’s three tours in Afghanistan. Caceres has, over the past few months, made Fieldy the namesake of a push to change rules at veteran cemeteries that would allow military working dogs to be buried there.
Fieldy — 15 years old and in poor health — was euthanized Thursday. He received most of the traditional pomp and circumstance that attend funerals of two-legged veterans: a rendition of taps, a gun salute, a flag draped over his body.