Lost Wedding Band at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland…Found!
Paul’s Palladium Wedding Band
Just after I finished a search for a missing ring in Annapolis, Maryland, I received a call from an Air Force officer who lost his palladium wedding band at a military fundraiser earlier that day which was hosted by his battalion at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. Paul is a high ranking officer who had participated in a pie fight during the afternoon festivities. He went on to explain that the peaceful picnic ended up with the officers throwing pies at one another and he went on the rampage to take revenge on some of his men for smacking him good with a creamy pie to the face! As the battle ensued out by the picnic tables located under a park pavilion, the messy chocolate and cherry cream antics extended out towards an open grassy area. These men had the time of their lives while the family members were watching, laughing, clapping and getting quite entertained by the childlike behavior of these Air Force officers. Paul was throwing one of the pies at another guy when he noticed his wedding band fly off of his finger and land somewhere in the grass approximately 15 or 20 feet from where the pie crust and filling was being smothered all over the men. When the game finally came to a conclusion, it was all about hunting for Paul’s handsome palladium wedding band. Eight officers including other family members joined in the search but no one could find the ring. Even after everybody had left the park area, Paul and his wife continued to search for the missing ring for another few hours, but all of their efforts led to no avail.
This is where THE RING FINDERS directory came into play. Paul looked online to see if he could find any tips on how to recover a lost ring. THE RING FINDERS website came up on his Google search which led this desperate military officer to contact me.
I assured Paul that I would do everything in my ability to recover his missing wedding band and I told him that I could meet him out at the air base the following day since it was already late in the evening. He was quite happy that I could fit his need into my schedule and that I was so positive regarding the recovery of his ring (if it in fact was still there in the grass).
The next day, Paul and I agreed to meet at a restaurant nearby to the air base so that I could follow him to the entrance of Andrews. There was very tight security, and I had to provide all kinds of identification to be granted approval to enter the base. Paul had to explain to the guards what my purpose was for entering and eventually I was given access after they did a search of my vehicle and checked out all of my credentials and paperwork.
Once I was through the gate. I continued following Paul and his family over to the picnic pavilion where the big party was held the day before. Lots of people were out playing ball and eating lunch at picnic tables. It was such a beautiful day with sun shining so happily above the perfect blue sky. As I observed all of the military families enjoying their time of recreation, I had to feel so grateful for all the sacrifices that these people have made for civilians like myself. This feeling within led me to thank Paul and his family for their awesome service for our country!
Before Paul took me over to the area where he believed he saw the ring fly off his finger, I got all of my gear out of the car and set up my metal detector so that I would be ready to start the search once we observed the grassy area where the pie fight had eventually reached its conclusion. Paul introduced me to his wife Marie and their son who were both carrying their picnic basket of lunch and plenty of other things to keep them preoccupied since they thought that the search could take a few hours to find the ring (as she experienced the day before but without a happy ending).
In recounting the story of how Paul’s ring slid off his finger, we both concluded that the chocolate mousse pie filling most likely lubricated his finger enough to cause the palladium wedding band to slide off and “fly away” in the midst of the action-packed moments during the pie fight.
Once he finished showing me the basic area that I needed to search, I put the headphones on and began my grid, swinging the detector back and forth in a straight line and then moving back in the opposite direction. At some point I felt that I had covered the suspected area well enough to conclude that the ring was clearly not in that section of the grass. I did have a few potential targets but none of them were directly on the surface of the grass, so I had to eliminate those possibilities. As soon as I moved away from the parameter where Paul thought the ring must have settled on the ground, I went outside of that area (as I commonly find rings beyond the places where people think the item ended up), and I began searching perhaps 10 yards past the suspected hot zone. It took no more than a minute before my detector sounded off a signal that was in the range of Paul’s type of ring. The numbers that were coming up on my machine were exactly what I was looking for. Almost at the same time that the target signal could be heard in my headphones, I looked down and saw something circular and silver-like in the midst of the grass! The wedding band was still there, patiently waiting for me to find it and have it returned to this very kind military man! I couldn’t have been happier for Paul and Marie and they could not have been more surprised when I revealed the good news that the search was over! Believe it or not, there was still some chocolate cream residue leftover from the pie fight, still stuck to the rim of the handsome palladium band!
If you would like to see the video of this search and the ring revealed to the family, feel free to subscribe to my YouTube channel by clicking on the link below and you will receive a notification when the video is uploaded.
The moment that I unveiled the ring to Paul, the couple was simply overjoyed with happiness and relief that Paul’s wedding band had been found! He gave me a hug, a handshake and thanked me over and over again right up to the time that I started packing up my gear! I was so honored to help such a patriotic family. Marie was quite surprised that I had found the ring within five minutes of starting the search! She had just settled down when I returned the wedding band back to its rightful owner! And like I said above, because so many people had been searching for such a long time the day prior, she didn’t think this would be such an easy find! The biggest decision of their day was no longer how to go about discovering the missing ring, but rather whether or not they would stay at the park or head back to their house located somewhere on the base!
Once my things were packed up and I was ready to head off to my next search site, the four of us said our goodbyes and the family thanked me again for my successful efforts. It meant a great deal to me that I could help such great Americans! There’s nothing like leaving a military family with smiles on their faces, knowing that every day they are making sacrifices for people like me. I would never be able to help others recover their missing items if we did not have men, women and children like this family supporting America’s efforts to preserve our freedom and democracy!
May God bless Paul and his family and may God continue to bless our great United States of America!
Revealing the ring to Paul and his family was a blast! If you would like to view the RING REVEAL and the reaction that followed, feel free to subscribe to my YOUTUBE VIDEO CHANNEL to see all of the latest and previous ring recoveries. This story and more will be posted over the next couple of months and you will be notified when it’s uploaded to the video channel!
CALL BRIAN RUDOLPH WITH THE RING FINDERS AT (301) 466-8644 AND HE WILL RETURN TO YOU WHAT HAS BEEN LOST!
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