Marine, dog back together thanks to flight attendant

A Twentynine Palms Marine and his bomb-sniffing dog are back together five years after they served in Afghanistan. The reunion was made possible by a flight attendant on a mission.

With a squeak of a toy, five years melted away in an instant.

“I see a lot of other stories with this happening, but I never thought…I thought Boone would have been taken by now by one of his former handlers, but I got lucky enough to get him back. Pretty fortunate,” said Sargent Andrew Mulherron.

The reunion was a moment Molli Oliver’s been thinking about since April when she met Mulherron on a flight that started his fourth overseas tour.

“I could feel that passion for that dog when he told me the story and I had to go do this,” said Oliver.

Oliver, a flight attendant, also helps transport rescue dogs.

“I will make it my mission to go get that dog and that’s how the story unfolded,” said Oliver.

Staff Sgt. Boone and Mulherron served in Afghanistan together. Boone, even though he’s a K-9, is the higher ranking officer.

“He’s like another friend you have watching your back still because back then, he always used to follow me everywhere,” said Mulherron.

“That’s all Andrew would talk about, Boone, Boone. ‘Where my Boone Dog?’ That’s what he would call him,” said Mulherron’s mother, Nuala Mulherron.

Together they saved lives — Boone sniffing out IEDs and earning the Navy Marine Corps Achievement Medal of Valor.

“If it wasn’t for Boone, God only knew where he would have ended up,” said Nuala Mulherron.

Then Mulherron was promoted to a different unit, but their bond was never broken.

“He became one of my really close friends. Yeah, it was pretty tough, actually, having to let go of him,” said Mulherron.

Almost five years later, Oliver found Boone at an Army base in Missouri ready to retire and in need a home.

“Boone was good for him and he was good for Boone and now they are going to be reunited,” said Nuala Mulherron.

But how to get Boone from Missouri to Mulherron’s family near San Francisco? Oliver flew him herself.

“There are nice human beings in this world that would just do something just to be nice,” said Nuala Mulherron.

Now back from his deployment, Mulherron can at last wrap his arms around his buddy.

“I don’t know if he understands me, but I think he does. I’m just happy to have him back,” said Mulherron.

Boone has inspired Oliver to start a non-profit called Mums Dogs to help reunite more retired military dogs with their handlers. For more information,click here.