As many people celebrated Thanksgiving with family and friends, one Westfield man was mourning the loss of one of his best friends.

Les Eldridge is putting his best friend, Max, to rest. Max was well-trained in sniffing out people who had drugs on them and he worked at Westover air base for three years. Max was also an eleven year-old german shepard.

"He went everywhere with me, like a buddy really," says Eldridge.

Both Max and his owner Les served in the military. Max at Westover and Les in Vietnam, Panama and Iraq. Their close bond was why it hurt Les so much when he had to put his dog to sleep after a driver hit him Wednesday night and then took off.

"He was unable to move, still alive," said Eldridge.

Les was getting into his car when he fell. He think Max may have gone for help.

"I fell... went down. I cant get off the ground fast," said Eldridge.

The next thing he knew, people had gathered down the road around Max.

Burying Max is the last thing he expected to do on Thanksgiving, but he knows his dog lived a long life and served his country.

Says Eldridge, "we would take him over to westover once week."

He just wishes the person that hit Max had stopped.