Her dad retired from the NY City Fire Department in 1969 after 9 years on the job. He was seriously injured in the line of duty during a building collapse. He was on Truck 40. The ring he lost is the ring that the NYFD gave him upon retiring. It was his prized possession.

 

I made the 2.5-hour trek on Saturday morning. Samantha showed me a small search area. Ken was trying to clear a blocked small stream to allow the water to drain from their pond. They were on the bank when they heard the ring hit a rock and then heard a splash. They looked and raked the stream with no luck. They have looked on many different occasions.

 

I start detecting, and there is a lot of metal in the area. There is a fence-like structure on the banks under the dirt. There is also a lot of nails in the water. I searched about 30 minutes in the rain when I got a good tone high on the bank. I dig a hole, and Samantha sees gold. Samantha pulled a big gold ring out of the hole. We can’t believe we found it. I said we should surprise him.

 

I packed up my gear, and when Ken got down here, I started asking more questions. I pointed to the area where he told me the splash was. The ring was on my finger. When he saw it, I handed it to him and showed him where we found it. He didn’t show much emotion. He kept talking about a gold ring with the NYFD logo on it and a diamond in the center. This one was not that ring.

 

I asked if this was his ring and he said yes, he didn’t know that he lost this one. So I guess I’m going to continue the search. I got suited up again in hip waders and a raincoat. I looked for 2 more hours and couldn’t find the other ring. I can say with confidence that the other ring is not in this area.

 

I am disappointed that I couldn’t find the ring I came up to find. I wanted to help put a smile on the face of another first responder. But I was able to return another ring.

I love my hobby!