Currents News Staff
It’s a meeting of 70 years and three continents later – one ring in the making found its original owner.
“It feels like Lord of the Rings!” said Lt. Col. Jos Groen. “You know, I have to give it away, but it’s so precious.”
The precious class ring belonged to Melissa Jenkins’ great-uncle, Joseph Sullivan, a 1946 graduate of St. James Catholic High School who fought in the Korean War.
“How the ring ended up in the Netherlands is,” Lt. Groen said, “that’s something we will never know, unfortunately..
What we do know that during the war, a Dutch soldier somehow got ahold of Sullivan’s class ring. He then gave it to a different Dutch soldier, who shared that story a few years ago to Dutch Lieutenant Colonel Jos Groen. He made it his mission to return the ring using its markings as a guide. He discovered it came from Chester’s St. James Catholic H.S.
The alumni association posted a photo fo it on Facebook, which Jenkins immediately recognized as her great uncle’s class ring.
“And I’m happy that I can bring it back to the family,” Lt. Groen said.
The end of a ring’s journey was only the beginning of a lifelong friendship.