A silver US Army ring missing since 2006 was found in another soldier’s footlocker; after a three-year search, a Fort Worth woman finally returned it to its original owner 20 years later

A silver US army ring that had been missing for two decades is back with the soldier who once wore it, completing a promise a Fort Worth woman made about three years ago. In 2023, when Mary Thelen found the ring, she told NBC 5 Responds that she would keep looking for its owner.

A mystery ring

She had found the possession tucked inside an old footlocker belonging to her son, Douglas, who served four tours in Iraq. Douglas did not remember exactly where he found it, thinking it might have been overseas, either in a truck or somewhere in the sand near Baghdad.Finding the owner was made a tad bit easy with the clues on the ring itself. Texas, four aces, the nickname ‘T-Bone’ and most importantly a name engraved on it: Terry Sheppard Jr. When the outlet shared Thelen’s story first in February 2023, it attracted plenty of attention. Online sleuths began contacting a man by that name.“I had a lot of people messaging me on Facebook, just randomly,” Sheppard recalled. “One of my coworkers told me about a story they’d seen, and they were like, ‘You think that’s yours?’” For a while, it seemed the mystery had been solved, but Sheppard and Thelen never connected and the ring remained in her care.But Thelen did not calm down in her efforts and kept searching for the ring’s rightful owner. “I can see that this ring belongs to a person who really wants it back, and I really want to meet him,” she said.

Back to the owner

Then, during the summer of 2026, Sheppard reached out to NBC 5 seeking help recovering his ring. A few weeks later he and Thelen met each other. “See if you remember that,” Thelen said as she handed him the ring. “Oh, my goodness,” Sheppard replied. “I haven’t seen this in forever.”Sheppard shared that he had not seen the ring since 2006. He ordered it after completing basic training. The design was a personal snapshot of the young soldier he was at the time, featuring his name, his Texas roots and his nickname, ‘T-Bone’. “I’m glad it’s back where it belongs,” Thelen told him.While the owner was revealed, what still remained a mystery was how the ring reached somewhere in Iraq. Sheppard never deployed to Iraq, meaning Douglas could not have found the ring there. Moreover, Sheppard added that he had only worn it once or twice. “The last place I can remember having my ring would be Fort Bragg, North Carolina, 82nd Airborne Unit,” he said.It turns out Douglas was also stationed at Fort Bragg during that period. Both men worked in the same area. Sheppard believes he may have removed the ring while working. Douglas likely found it and forgot about it, until his mother uncovered it many years later.Whether Terry and Douglas ever crossed paths remains unknown. “I just never thought I’d actually see this again,” Sheppard said.