Jon Tumilson's Dog Hawkeye at Soldier's Funeral

**HoldyourfireAl** · August 26th, 2011, 12:12:47 AM

Jon Tumilson's Dog Hawkeye at Soldier's Funeral

**HoldyourfireAl** · August 26th, 2011, 12:14:09 AM

Jon Tumilson with his dog Hawkeye

**HoldyourfireAl** · August 26th, 2011, 12:19:51 AM

Jon Tumilson, a Navy SEAL, was one of 30 Americans killed in Afghanistan on Aug. 6 when a rocket-propelled grenade took out a U.S. Chinook helicopter. He was mourned at a service in Rockford, Iowa, attended by 1,500 family members, friends--and Hawkeye, Tumilson's dog.

The Labrador retriever was such an important part of Tumilson's life that the friends and family of the San Diego resident called the dog his "son."
When Tumilson's friend Scott Nichols walked to the front of the room to speak, Hawkeye followed, Today.com reports. "As Nichols prepared to memorialize his friend, Hawkeye dutifully laid down near the casket," Scott Stump writes.
A video clip of the mourning dog can be seen here. KIMT-TV of Mason City, Iowa, covered the funeral.
The photo was taken by Tumilson's cousin, Lisa Pembleton, and posted on Facebook. Pembleton wrote on her Facebook page, "To say that he was an amazing man doesn't do him justice. The loss of Jon to his family, military family, and friends is immeasurable."

**HoldyourfireAl** · August 26th, 2011, 12:22:32 AM

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO HAWKEYE?

Nikki Virgilio, a friend of Mr Tumilson (known as J.T.) who was at the funeral, said Hawkeye was a personal pet rather than a military dog.

'I can happily report to you that Hawkeye was willed to one of J.T.'s good friends, the same one that took care of him whenever J.T. was deployed overseas,' she wrote on Facebook.
This close friend was revealed by the Des Moines Register to be Scott Nichols.

**HoldyourfireAl** · August 26th, 2011, 12:38:34 AM

On a side note, it'd be nice if Jon had named him after the most loyal Avenger of all...

**HoldyourfireAl** · August 26th, 2011, 01:24:13 AM

Dogs are the best, aren't they?

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