Honor guard members carry the remains of K-9 deputy Tanja at the Walker County Civic Center.ROCK SPRING, Ga. – The funeral procession drove on U.S. Highway 27 beneath a huge American flag suspended from the ladders of two firetrucks.
A lone bagpiper played.
Four police officers in dress uniform lifted a glass ark bearing the departed’s ashes from the hearse and carried it into the Walker County Civic Center.
There were clues, though, that Friday morning’s memorial service was for a dog, a full-fledged deputy with the Walker County Sheriff’s Office.
Like the line of police dogs and their handlers that awaited the hearse. The K-9 units had traveled for hours from Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina.