Guero is a dog who is credited with saving thousands of lives. He’s helped protect presidents and other high-ranking officials.

The courageous yellow Lab died on Jan. 28. The only recognition he received for his achievements was a certificate from the military citing his 6½ years of meritorious service.

At 11 a.m. Saturday, a memorial service for Guero will be held at the War at Home Memorial along Sgt. Stanley Hoffman Boulevard (Route 209), Lehighton.

Also scheduled is the unveiling of a special service dogs monument.

The main speaker will be Lehighton native Sara Yaeger, a military dog handler who adopted Guero after his handler was deployed to Italy and wasn’t able to take the dog with him.

Yaeger, who described Guero as “such a gentle dog” despite his dangerous job, will be the main speaker. She spent seven of her 10 years in the military training service dogs. Her time in the military included service in Afghanistan and various assignments in the United States working several presidential details.

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Guero was 14 when he retired from the military after serving 11 years. The remains of Guero as well as photos of him will be on display at the service.

A 2000 graduate of Lehighton Area High School, Yaeger is a daughter of Karen Donner of Lehighton. She and her husband, Robert Yaeger, a native of Texas, presently reside at Fort Drum, New York, with their two children, Benjamin, 4, and Amelia, 2.

Guero passed away on Benjamin’s birthday after suffering a stroke.

What a list of accomplishments the dog has achieved, according to his meritorious service award:

• Provided explosive detection for the Air Force’s largest operational Military Working Dog kennel at Andrews Air Force Base.

• Completed 12,000 search hours, and purged 11,000 pounds of equipment in support of the president of the United States and foreign world leaders transiting the National Capital Region.

• While deployed to Kirkuk, Iraq, Guero responded to 20 vehicle borne Improvised Explosive Device alerts. His keen detection skills ensured the destruction of five explosive devices, ultimately saving the lives of 2,000 personnel.

• While deployed to Al Udeid, Qatar, Guero executed 700 random anti-terrorism measures. His efforts ensured the security of $10 billion in assets and 16,000 personnel.

The meritorious service award, which was accompanied by a medal, says, “Finally, Guero provided superb security support during the 2013 presidential inauguration, protecting over 1.8 million personnel, the highest attendance in history.”

At the time Yaeger adopted Guero, she was pregnant with Amelia. She said all service dogs go through a rigorous examination before being adopted. She said the kennel handler does various tests on the dogs, including pulling their tail and other antics children might do to determine the animal’s reaction. A video of the testing is sent to Lackland Air Force Base for review where determination is made if the dog will be a fit with a family.

Yaeger said she is excited about the program on Saturday, “because these dogs, they served, too.” She said generally memorial services are conducted on military bases, but because Guero died at a residence, he wasn’t afforded the special service.

“I wanted to do something for Guero,” she said. “They’re deployed just like any other human being.”

Yaeger said her family always had pet dogs when she was growing up, usually Irish setters or springer spaniels.

After graduating from high school, she went to Lehigh Carbon Community College for two years, then Kutztown University for four years where she obtained a bachelor’s degree.

She worked for Children and Youth Services at youth camps in Kunkletown and Jim Thorpe for five years.

“After that, I didn’t know what to do,” she said. “There were no job opportunities.”

She joined the military when she was 26. Her first assignment was Lackland Air Force Base, the F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where she did nuclear security. Of this detail she said, “I thought going into it that there were Navy SEALS guarding them (the nuclear weapons) but it was just little ol’ me from Lehighton.”

“I saw (service) dogs in Wyoming and thought, ‘These dogs are amazing,’ ” she said.

She applied for K-9 training detail and was transferred to Lackland at the end of 2010.

Her next assignment was in South Carolina, where she was assigned a Belgian Malinois named Johnny.

Next came Midas, a mixed breed “who was massive.”

She was assigned, then, to Andrews Air Force Base and worked with Viki, a German shepherd. After becoming pregnant with Amelia, she was forced to take a desk job.

While on maternity leave, she got Digi, a German shepherd who she described as “my favorite dog.” She and Digi have traveled numerous places, including to Chicago for President Obama’s farewell speech, New York City for election duty and searching the site of the Freedom Tower, and Wilkes-Barre for a presidential campaign rally.

Digi was the last dog Yeager trained before leaving the military. He is still working with the military but with a different handler.

Yaeger credits the military with giving her a lot of opportunities she never would have otherwise been afforded. Although she concluded her military service in April 2017 after 10 years, her husband is still active and in his 16th year.

She works part-time at the Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C.

“I do that just to stay with K-9 and keep involved,” she said.

She confessed that she hopes that someday she and her family will relocate back to Lehighton.