Farms family finds comfort raising stray dogs soldier cared for in Iraq

By K. Michelle Moran
C & G Staff Writer

GROSSE POINTE FARMS — For two former street dogs, 5-month-old Boris and his mother, 1 1/2-year-old Labrador retriever mix Mama, are remarkably sweet, friendly and sociable.

That says as much about their former caregiver as it does about the one-time strays. During a tour of duty in Baghdad, lifelong animal lover Sgt. Peter C. Neesley “adopted” the dogs, giving them food, shelter, and most importantly, loving attention. Although he didn’t know how, Neesley dreamed of bringing the dogs back home with him to Grosse Pointe Farms when his tour was over.

Then, inexplicably, Neesley, 28, was found dead in his sleep in a non-combat environment on Christmas Day 2007. The cause of his death was still under investigation at press time.

For his family back home, who’d received e-mailed photos of a beaming Neesley with the dogs he’d befriended, his story seemed destined to be another tragedy, another terrible casualty of war. Instead, Neesley’s own compassion has inspired dozens of strangers, from a senator in Washington to a veterinarian in Iraq, to make his final wish come true and bring Boris and Mama to Michigan.

Since they arrived in Grosse Pointe Farms Feb. 8, the two dogs have had a lot of adjusting to do. After initial suspicion, they’ve befriended the Neesley family’s two 8-year-old golden retrievers, the placid Gussie and Noah. After coming from a place where temperatures routinely soar into the 90s and above, Boris and Mama still don’t like winter in Michigan, nor do they care to be outside when it’s raining or snowing. Thanks to the example set by Gussie and Noah, though, the dogs from Iraq are slowly learning to enjoy playing in the snow.

Most recently, Invisible Fence personnel have offered their services and training to keep the dogs safe in their own yard.

“Thousands of dogs are lost or killed every year,” said Jack Miltz of Invisible Fence in a statement. “We couldn’t imagine that happening to these dogs or the Neesley family.”

The dogs’ arrival was a rare bright spot in recent weeks for the Neesley family, said Peter’s older sister, Carey Neesley, 31.

“It’s a huge comfort,” she said of having Boris and Mama. “It’s helped us. It restored a little bit of our faith in life and humanity. They’ve given us a reason to smile and laugh sometimes, which has been really hard to do over the last couple of months.”

Carey Neesley carries herself with remarkable grace and composure, but there’s tremendous sadness in her eyes and around the edges of her voice. She said Peter was “the closest thing to a father” her 10-year-old son, Patrick, had. The energetic, talkative boy fondly remembers roughhousing with his uncle, who knew exactly the right thing to send Patrick for Christmas: Toys ‘R’ Us gift cards.

“He was filled with so much life and so much compassion and so much giving,” Carey Neesley said. “To be honest, it still hasn’t sunk in yet. He was my best friend.”

A middle child, Carey Neesley said her brother — who had briefly attended military school — joined the military shortly after high school. He was stationed for three years at Fort Hood in Texas. After his term was up, he returned home for a year, but she said he missed the structure of military life, and he missed the many close friends he’d made. When one of his best friends was killed in combat, he re-enlisted in an attempt to prevent any of his other friends from experiencing the same fate.

“He didn’t necessarily support the war,” Carey Neesley said. “He re-enlisted because he felt like he needed to protect his friends.”

In May 2007, Peter Neesley began his tour of duty in Iraq. Assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division out of Fort Stewart, Ga., his job as a scout was to patrol neighborhoods in search of weapons. Carey Neesley said her brother would also ask the neighborhood residents if they needed food, water or medicine, and seek medical attention for children in need.

“He was a humanitarian, and that’s why he did what he did, to try to make things better,” she said. His sister and nephew pitched in, too, organizing a drive at Patrick’s school, Richard Elementary, where Peter had visited and spoken to several classrooms full of kids last November.

Peter first encountered Mama and her two pups in the neighborhood while he was on a routine patrol. He began feeding them, but one day, Carey said one of the pups was hit and killed by a car.

“That broke Peter’s heart,” she recalled.

Although he wasn’t allowed to have dogs on the base with him, she said Peter wanted to keep a close watch on the remaining pair. That’s when he and some of his friends built a doghouse at the edge of the base for Mama and Boris.

When they return to the U.S. in July, Carey Neesley said her brother’s fellow soldiers have said they will try to bring the doghouse back with them.

The story has attracted national media attention, and Carey Neesley thinks she knows why.

“There’s something very heartwarming about Peter’s actions,” she said softly. “In the midst of all of this (violence), he was able to take these two (dogs) and turn them into family away from home. For him to care so much about these two little stray animals probably gave him a feeling of being human again.”

Another animal lover, St. Francis of Assisi, penned a simple prayer for peace that is still recited centuries later. It includes the lines, “Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.”

Centuries later, those words are reflected in the life of a fallen soldier. For grieving relatives, nothing can replace the loved one they lost. But they take comfort in carrying on his efforts to care for a couple of stray dogs, whose loving nature reminds them of the gentle man who once tended to them.

You can reach Staff Writer K. Michelle Moran at kmoran@candgnews.com or at (586) 498-1047.