The Old President’s Service Dog Lay Down in Front of His Casket. His Spokesman Shared the Photo With Just Two Words

In the last months of his life, President George H.W. Bush had a constant companion: a yellow Labrador named Sully.

Sully came to the former president in June 2018, a few weeks after Barbara Bush, his wife of 73 years, passed away.

He was trained by America’s VetDogs, a charity that provides service dogs to veterans and service members. Sully was named after Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, the pilot who landed his plane on the Hudson River in 2009.

The president lived with a form of Parkinson’s disease. Sully knew a two-page list of commands, including answering the phone and fetching things. His spokesman, Jim McGrath, once joked that Sully could do just about anything except make you a martini, “but not to worry, he can go get you someone to make you a martini.”

President Bush died on November 30, 2018, at 94.

Soon after, McGrath shared a photo. Sully was lying quietly in front of the flag-draped casket. The caption said just two words: “Mission complete.”

Sully then traveled with his master one last time, to Washington.

But his mission wasn’t really over. President Bush, a Navy pilot in World War II, had wanted Sully to keep supporting as many service members and veterans as possible.

In February 2019, Sully joined the facility dog program at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he was given the rank of petty officer, hospital corpsman second class. His new job: comforting wounded service members and their families.

“As much as our family is going to miss this dog,” George W. Bush wrote, “we’re comforted to know he’ll bring the same joy to his new home.”

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