peter doocy is in our new york newsroom with the story. peter, i can t wait to hear more. reporter: jamie, dev and dan dunham from new york have had a rough few years. in 2004, their son jason dunham was patrol and sent in a coma when a grenade trying to protect his men from sent shrapnel flying in his brain. he died later at the naval hospital in maryland, just 22 years old. in 2007, they accepted their son s medal of honor in the white house in a ceremony with president bush. jason s mother said since her marine didn t come home, she had a place for a marine. this august, the dunhams adopted gunner. gunner was deployed to afghanistan to support the brave men and women on the front lines sniffing out bombs, but he never made it on a patrol. during the training, all he wanted to do is play fetch with the trainer. when it came down to the serious stuff, he was too skittish to fulfill his duty. so he was no good to marines overseas anymore. but he was welcomed in the
he was battling hand to hand near the syrian border dropped a grenade. while shielding his men, shrapnel hit his skull and he passed away a few weeks later. his parents accepted the medal of honor from president bush at the white house in 2007. the navy named the most advanced warship in his honor. uss jason dunham will be commissioned in florida. since 2004, the dunham s home was missing a marine. until now. in august, they adopted gunner, marine previously deployed with the marine corps in afghanistan who helped the super sniff of smell could help him find bombs but he wasn t fit for duty. too freaked out by the gunshots and he never made it on a single mission. the marines didn t want him anymore, but the dunhams did. we tried to uphold what he did and support people when they need support.
this marine needs a home. we have a home for him. i don t have any marine. i ve got a place for this one. reporter: the dunhams say gunner is still skittish sometimes, getting freaked out by thunder and cameras. he is making progress. with the help of their other yellow lab ziggy, dan and deb is teaching gunner he is safe in their home and safe with them. uma: what a wonderful story. i would imagine that gunner has had a positive inpact on the dunham s life as well. reporter: he has, but it s a very sad story, because dunhams said that look, there is to way they will ever be able to make gunner totally forget about everything that happened to him or traumatized him. the same way the gunner will never help the dunhams forget what happened to their son. uma: not at all but it s a wonderful story. our heart goes out to gunner and dunham family. thank you. one of the complex rescue
by bombs firing off he was sent home. had now he is back with the dunhams and they are saying their son died doing the right thing and ever since then, they try to do the right thing, too. we try to do the same thing. we have a home for him. i have a playing for this one. reporter: the dunhams had to sign a paper if anything goes wrong with gunner. they say the other dog has helped gunner get used the a equality life at home and he is still on edge. gunner was frightened by thunder and more recently he threw a roll of toilet paper to see if he wanted to play with it and he hit the deck, just like a soldier would. now he is acting more like a