Great story!
Mark.
The Press-Enterprise
RIVERSIDE - Army Spc. Brett Hurt gave up finding his military insignia ring after losing it on an Orange County beach last summer.
When he received a call almost eight months later saying the ring was found, he thought there was a mistake.
"I didn't think they had the right guy," said Hurt, who is stationed at Fort Irwin near Barstow. "It's been so long that I didn't think about it anymore. I just wrote it off."
Riverside resident Bob Bowes was combing Newport Beach with a new metal detector in September, about three months after Hurt's visit to the beach, when he found a silver ring under the sand.
"I found it about 3 o'clock in the morning. It was several hours later before I got a good look at it," Bowes said. "The more I studied it, the more interested I was in finding out who it belonged to."
Hurt said he was with a group of friends at the beach early in the summer. He removed his ring and wrapped it with his clothing, which he said he had folded neatly before heading into the ocean to swim. Late that night, Hurt and his friends headed back to the base. It wasn't until the next day that he realized his ring was gone.
"I was so mad," Hurt said. "I tore apart my buddy's girlfriend's van looking for it. I didn't think I lost it on the beach."
The ring cost Hurt $500, but it wasn't the price that made it a valued piece of jewelry, he said.
"I just got back from my deployment, and it really meant something," Hurt said.
Hurt, 22, of Huddleston, Va., was sent to Iraq in January 2005. He returned home Christmas Eve of the same year. His unit was stationed in Karbala, Fallujah and Camp Kaljun about 20 miles south of Baghdad, he said.
The ring was a memento of his time out of country. One side of the ring had a picture of a horse, the symbol of the Black Horse Regiment. On the other side were the words "Operation Iraqi Freedom." An Army infantryman badge was etched on the metal beneath a pale blue stone.
Bowes, 74, said he asked friends to do Internet searches to track down information about the owner using writing and symbols on the ring as clues. After months of relying on friends, Bowes contacted the Army recruiting office in Riverside. Recruiter Sgt. Jonette Sillas showed the ring to a colleague who recognized the regiment insignia.
Inside the ring, engraved in print too small for Bowes to read, were Hurt's last name and the last four numbers of his Social Security number, which is how soldiers are identified in the Army, Sillas said.
Sillas called the regiment, which searched its records and tracked down Hurt. On March 3, Hurt drove to the Riverside recruiting office to meet Bowes and pick up his ring.
"My dad had a similar incident with his high school ring. Almost a year later, his step-mom was walking along the beach and found it," Hurt said.
The next time Hurt goes to the beach, he's leaving his ring behind, he said.
Mark.
The Press-Enterprise
RIVERSIDE - Army Spc. Brett Hurt gave up finding his military insignia ring after losing it on an Orange County beach last summer.
When he received a call almost eight months later saying the ring was found, he thought there was a mistake.
"I didn't think they had the right guy," said Hurt, who is stationed at Fort Irwin near Barstow. "It's been so long that I didn't think about it anymore. I just wrote it off."
Riverside resident Bob Bowes was combing Newport Beach with a new metal detector in September, about three months after Hurt's visit to the beach, when he found a silver ring under the sand.
"I found it about 3 o'clock in the morning. It was several hours later before I got a good look at it," Bowes said. "The more I studied it, the more interested I was in finding out who it belonged to."
Hurt said he was with a group of friends at the beach early in the summer. He removed his ring and wrapped it with his clothing, which he said he had folded neatly before heading into the ocean to swim. Late that night, Hurt and his friends headed back to the base. It wasn't until the next day that he realized his ring was gone.
"I was so mad," Hurt said. "I tore apart my buddy's girlfriend's van looking for it. I didn't think I lost it on the beach."
The ring cost Hurt $500, but it wasn't the price that made it a valued piece of jewelry, he said.
"I just got back from my deployment, and it really meant something," Hurt said.
Hurt, 22, of Huddleston, Va., was sent to Iraq in January 2005. He returned home Christmas Eve of the same year. His unit was stationed in Karbala, Fallujah and Camp Kaljun about 20 miles south of Baghdad, he said.
The ring was a memento of his time out of country. One side of the ring had a picture of a horse, the symbol of the Black Horse Regiment. On the other side were the words "Operation Iraqi Freedom." An Army infantryman badge was etched on the metal beneath a pale blue stone.
Bowes, 74, said he asked friends to do Internet searches to track down information about the owner using writing and symbols on the ring as clues. After months of relying on friends, Bowes contacted the Army recruiting office in Riverside. Recruiter Sgt. Jonette Sillas showed the ring to a colleague who recognized the regiment insignia.
Inside the ring, engraved in print too small for Bowes to read, were Hurt's last name and the last four numbers of his Social Security number, which is how soldiers are identified in the Army, Sillas said.
Sillas called the regiment, which searched its records and tracked down Hurt. On March 3, Hurt drove to the Riverside recruiting office to meet Bowes and pick up his ring.
"My dad had a similar incident with his high school ring. Almost a year later, his step-mom was walking along the beach and found it," Hurt said.
The next time Hurt goes to the beach, he's leaving his ring behind, he said.
Kudos to MR. Bowes 
Very nice story, thanks for sharing!
