Marine Dog Earns Top Medal
Close Read Passage, 227 words, Informational (nonfiction), Description, Level Z (Grade 5), Lexile 1140L
Lucca, a dog who worked for the Marine Corps, was awarded a medal for her service. Lucca searched for homemade bombs on over four hundred missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Lucca was wounded in an explosion on her final mission and was adopted by one of her former handlers. Lucca died in 2018, and she was given the Animals in War & Peace Medal of Bravery the following year.