Collier woman finds lost Air Force ring, tries to find owner

Reporter: Rachel Cox-Rosen
Published: Updated:
A decades-old U.S. Air Force pilot school ring was found at Wiggins Pass. (CREDIT: WINK News)

A decades-old Air Force ring was found on a bridge and the woman who found it wants to return it to its owner.

Kathy Koberlein lives right by Wiggins Pass. She takes a lot of walks on the beach. But on Feb. 24, as she walked on the bridge leading to Wiggins Pass, she spotted a glint of gold.

“At first I thought it was just a toy or something and then picked it up and realized that this was not a toy and it’s somebody’s treasure that they are going to want back,” Koberlein said.

It was a decades-old U.S. Air Force pilot school ring. Koberlein understands the meaning behind heirlooms.

“My dad was military, my grandpa was military,” Koberlein said. “I have his silver star hanging on my living room wall. It is a family treasure. It’s really precious to me and it’s really important to them just like my grandpa’s silver star is to me so I want to find them. I want to be able to put this back in their hand and give it to the person that it belongs to.”

Koberlein has posted on Facebook and asked everyone she knows. So far, the ring has gone unclaimed.

“I keep it in the kitchen in a dish on the counter and I don’t want to put it away or tuck it away because I don’t want it to become invisible,” Koberlein said. “I want to know that I’m on a mission to find out who this belongs to.”

A historian with the Air Education and Training Command, which oversees Air Force pilot training, told WINK News he believes he knows the owner, based on initials and the class year engraved on the ring.

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