Received a call from Susan on 11/28/2017 desperately looking for help in finding a friends lost 20 year fireman service ring. Susan was calling on behalf of her friend Joe…a retiree and former fireman. It turns out Susan runs and operates a hot dog cart(great hot dogs and sausages!) right outside Pennypacker Park on Pine Road in Philadelphia, PA and her and Joe have enjoyed a somewhat regular routine of feeding the ducks in the creek. I met Susan at the park on Friday 12/1/2017 and she told me in detail what she though might have happened to the ring and walked me through the area of interest. As It turns out…they don’t even go into the park…they walk down the street on the curb and drop bread over the side of a small bridge to the hungry ducks below. Susan conveyed to me that she and Joe thought that the ring most likely slipped off his finger while throwing bread to ducks the previous Sunday. In looking at the area I was optimistic in that it was not a large search area and the water was shallow…but it is December in Pennsylvania and while i remembered my waders I forgot my long handled scoop! Thankfully the temperature was in mid 50’s so not too bad.
I searched with my Garrett AT Pro for about an hour in the area below the brige…about a 25 square yard area in the middle of the creek where Susan had pointed me to. Quite a few healthy signals that got my heart racing but just some shotgun shells and caps/tabs…the ring was described to me as being the size of a « superbowl » ring so I knew it would ring up strong if I passed over it. After an hour, with some freezing hands/arms from reaching in water, I decided to get out and walk back up to bridge and look down again to confirm my search grid was accurate. While on bridge looking down, Susan joined me and we talked through again the whole duck feeding routine. She mentioned that Joe didn’t like to forget the female ducks who were a little more timid and congregated in a very shallow corner close to the bank…an area that I had not detected.
Back into the water I went. After 3 minutes in this new area… I sort of saw something in muddy sand before running my machine over it. What a satisfying mid tone my detector announced….It was in 3 inches of water! And there it was!!!!
I very happily got out of water and removed my waders and stowed my gear. Susan was manning her cart and busy with customers so I patiently waited till she was free before opening my hand and showing her the ring. Joe was at a doctors appointment but Susan immediately got home on phone and I had the honor of telling him I found his ring. I thanked him for his service and told him I was extremely happy that I was able to return his ring to him!
One Reply to “20 Year Fireman Service Ring recovered in Philadelphia Creek”
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One of my two best friends(Dave Maycumber) is a retired Firefighter from the Syracuse NY Fire department. He follows in his fathers footsteps (who was the Deputy Chief of the Syracuse Fire Dept ). Dave has shared many story’s of honor and courage that his fellow firefighters (and himself) have shown over their years of service. The brotherhood and pride runs deep in these men (as it should).
A feel good moment when I read your story of reuniting this firefighter with his years of service ring. A well deserved solute goes out to you for your persistence and skills in this recovery. I’m very sure that he is a very happy man thanks to you and The Ring Finders network. If not for The Ring Finders website and it’s members ( like you) moments like this most likely would never happen. Great job. Thank you for sharing.
Martin Johnson, One of the Syracuse NY members of The Ring Finders network.