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Man, Dog Reunited 9 Days After Tornado Flattened Ill. Town

A happy twist of events: Jacob Montgomery and Dexter are reunited.
Courtesy of the Illinois National Guard
A happy twist of events: Jacob Montgomery and Dexter are reunited.

Jacob Montgomery's apartment was destroyed when a tornado ripped through the town of Washington, Ill., on Nov. 17.

Montgomery, an MP in the Illinois National Guard, survived, but he was separated from his 6-month-old pit bull named Dexter.

Despite searching through the wreckage several times, he couldn't find the puppy. So Montgomery posted pictures of Dexter on social media in hopes of finding him.

On Tuesday — nine days later — something amazing happened.

Montgomery got a Facebook message from a neighbor saying Dexter had been found under the rubble. The dog was malnourished and had a few cuts and scrapes. Otherwise, he was OK.

"I am lucky. All I had in my apartment is gone, but my dog was all I really had to worry about," Montgomery said, according to the Illinois National Guard.

Montgomery is staying with a friend near Peoria, Ill., until he and Dexter can find a new home.

Montgomery and Dexter's story reminded us of this other reunion following the devastation earlier this year in Moore, Okla. As the Two-Way wrote at the time, Barbara Garcia's reunion with her pooch "added a rare bright spot to an otherwise sad story of widespread devastation and loss of life."

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Krishnadev Calamur is NPR's deputy Washington editor. In this role, he helps oversee planning of the Washington desk's news coverage. He also edits NPR's Supreme Court coverage. Previously, Calamur was an editor and staff writer at The Atlantic. This is his second stint at NPR, having previously worked on NPR's website from 2008-15. Calamur received an M.A. in journalism from the University of Missouri.
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