They yearned to retrieve two stray dogs that he had taken in, and cared for. He was attached to them, and expressed in e-mails and phone calls how he wanted to bring them home to Michigan.
For weeks, the family has fought to have at least that part of Peter's life given back to them.
On Friday afternoon, their wish came true.
As Mama, a black Labrador mix, and Boris, her white-and-brown spotted puppy, hopped out of a minivan, the family ran and knelt in the wet streets to greet them.
Peter Neesley's sister, Carey, cried.
"It's been such a long, complicated struggle and to see them finally come home is just amazing," she said.
Neesley said things hadn't been normal since the family learned that her 28-year-old brother had died in his sleep.
The dogs were picked up in Baghdad this week by Rich Crook, a rapid response manager for the Utah-based Best Friends Animal Society, which helped arrange the animals' transport after learning about them from media reports. Gryphon Holdings LLC, an American-owned airline with service to Iraq, agreed to fly the dogs from Baghdad to Kuwait City.
While Neesley's fellow soldiers cared for Mama and Boris, a veterinarian with the Iraqi Society for Animals vaccinated the dogs and arranged for the health certificates allowing them to travel to the United States. Crook and the dogs arrived in Washington D.C. on Thursday and drove to the Grosse Pointe Farms home of Neesley's mother, capping a four-week transfer that involved elected officials.
Much of the family, including an aunt of Peter's who flew in from New Jersey, gathered at the home. A banner welcoming Mama and Boris hung outside of the brick house with red, white and blue balloons tied to a bannister.
"There were times when we would have a roadblock and then all of a sudden it would open up, so we knew we were on the right track," Crook said.
Carey's son, Patrick, looked at Peter as a father figure and was excited about having the dogs home. Later in the afternoon, one of his best friends called to see if he could come over and play with Patrick and the dogs.
"Patrick, when we started this a few weeks ago, said he just wanted to love them and hold them and take care of them and all of that," said Peter's aunt, Julie Dean. "It's going to be tremendous comfort for the family."
Carey says the family doesn't have any major plans for the new pets.
"We're just going to love them, work on housebreaking, and that kind of stuff," she said. She's still waiting for it all to sink in.
"I think it's going to be more of a reality as the days go on and we kinda come back to normal," she said.
