Missing Marine ring returned thanks to Facebook

The story of a missing Marine's ring has been shared across the globe, as far as Germany.

With more than 136,000 Facebook shares and 2,700 comments, it struck a chord with people online.

Much of the credit goes to Patti O'Brien, of Cape Coral, who authored the Nov. 3 post about the missing ring and did what she said was the least she could to reunite the ring with its owner.

Tuesday—Veterans Day, fittingly—O'Brien and the parents of the young Marine who owns the ring met for the first time, at the very place the ring was lost.

"I can't tell you how thankful we are," said Ben Comtois, 39, of Cape Coral. Over the past few days, Ben reached out to local media, including the News-Press, after the story of the missing ring began to spread.

The ring was lost last month during Cape Coral Bike Night and was found by O'Brien's daughter and her fiance.

Ben and Jessica's son lost the ring when he stashed it in a shirt pocket. "Marine's aren't allowed to put things in their pants pockets," Jessica said.

When their son—whose name the Comtoises have asked to withhold due to security concerns—took off the shirt, Jessica folded it and the ring started its journey.

The family didn't know the ring was lost until at least a day later, Ben said. They kept the story to themselves, growing more and more resigned that it was lost forever.

Every step of the way, O'Brien could have done something different and the ring would have remained lost. First, she held onto it, Ben said. Then, she wrote a Facebook post about it. Most importantly, she sent it to the United States Marine Corps Facebook page, as well as any nearby bases she could think of.

"I had no idea so many people would respond," she said. O'Brien got responses from all over the country and even abroad, she said. A number of people sent her messages, hoping it was a long-lost ring of theirs. "I could tell it wasn't theirs," she said.

But Ben had information about the ring that had not been released. Once O'Brien was given this information, including a photo of a replica ring that Jessica had, she knew she had found the rightful owners.

Jessica said she had been texting her 18-year-old son, who is in training in North Carolina and is due home for Christmas, about the news and he was hysterical that the story had gotten this big. "He's excited, surprised. He can't believe it's all over," she said of the search.

As for it all happening on Veterans Day, Ben said it means a lot. "My father was a vet. Her [Jessica's] family, all our family." He said it was difficult to send their son off to boot camp just a few months ago.

And, with the exception of regular phone calls and the occasional holiday visit, the Comtoises miss their son greatly. "It was almost like getting a piece of him back," Ben said.