GROSSE POINT FARMS, Mich. -- The Neesley family of Grosse Pointe Farms is hoping to turn heartache into healing.

Their 28-year-old son, U.S. Army Sgt. Peter Neesley died suddenly and mysteriously on Christmas Day while serving in Iraq.

Before his death, he told his family he wanted two stray dogs he found and cared for in Baghdad to come home with him to Michigan.

"It was so like Peter. I can't tell you how many times he came home with stray animals of one kind or another," said Carey Neesley, the soldier's sister.

Sgt. Neesley's cause of death was ruled undetermined by the U.S. Army.

Officials told the family he died in a non-combat death in his sleep.

In their grief, the Neesleys have turned their attention to getting Peter Neesley's two stray dogs, named "Mama" and "Boris," home to Michigan.

"Peter loved them. To us, it's a living legacy of Peter," said Carey Neesley.

The family especially wants the dogs home to be pets for the soldier's nephew, Patrick Durkin, 9.

Peter Neesley was a father figure to Durkin.

"I'd just love to have them, so I could walk with them and feed them and just hug them at night," Durkin said.

"Maybe if he had one of those dogs to curl up with or walk down the road with, it might make things a little bit easier," said Carey Neesley.

Peter Neesley will be laid to rest on Saturday at the Grosse Pointe War Memorial with military honors.

The Neesley family has contacted several national news outlets, as well as Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Michigan U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, for help in getting the soldier's dogs to Michigan.

The family has also ordered a private autopsy to look into Peter Neesley's cause of death.

To see pictures of Neesley and his dogs, his family has set up a Web album here