Prized Military Class Ring Found On Hampton Beach Reunited With Owner

Editor's note: This article was written by a Townsquare Media Northern New England radio personality and may contain the individual's views, opinions or personal experiences.

Wow, what a feel good story this is!

According to Brian Knowlton's Facebook page, a massive class ring was found in September more than a foot below the sand at the Hampton Beach State Park campground.

On Tuesday, Brian was finally able to give it back to its rightful owner.

According to Brian's post, Cyran Willis lost the ring this past July. That means it was separated from its owner for more than five months!

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It was no ordinary ring, either. According to the post, it was a class ring from Norwich University, a prestigious military school. The massive ring weighed 68.4 grams and 2.2 troy ounces of gold!

According to Norwich University, the class ring is "the most prized of a cadet's worldly possessions." Here's an excerpt from the school's website regarding the importance of the ring:

The Norwich class ring is presented to the Junior Class members of the Corps at the Junior Ring Ceremony. The Norwich ring is the most prized of a cadet's worldly possessions, and much effort goes into earning the right to wear it.

The ring tradition at Norwich began in the spring of 1923, when the senior class adopted a class ring for each member of the class who would graduate in June. It was expected that each class would follow the precedent of the class of 1923. In time, the process of ring design and presentation shifted to the Junior year. However, it was not until the mid-1960s that a policy for standardization of the ring design was in place.

The Norwich rings, like the service academy rings, feature a class crest on one side and the school crest on the other, with a bezel surrounding a stone or similar inset on top. Tradition dictates that the cadet wear the class crest facing him/her until graduation, when the ring is turned around so that the Norwich crest faces the wearer. This tradition links the wearer more closely to his/her class until graduation and to all the Norwich Corps graduates after graduation.

The ring was reunited with Cryan just in time, too, since Cyran is expected to be deployed oversees in a couple of weeks. What a story!