After 50 years, brothers return to Fort Sill to search for signet ring

After roughly 50 years, John Hester Ward III came back to Fort Sill to search for his father’s signet ring. After three days, he and his brother had to give up the search.

When John Ward was a boy, his father, John Hester Ward II, gave him his father, Joseph Hester Ward’s, signet ring. Before his grandfather left for WWII, he gave his signet ring to Ward II, who then gave it to his son.

John Ward II and his family were stationed at Fort Sill from 1971-1973. After getting a cheap metal detector for Christmas, John Ward III went to the park outside his home to play with it and his ring. Years after he buried it, he couldn’t remember if he searched for it.

John Ward III and his brother Joseph “Joe” Gespare Ward planned to come to Fort Sill three months ago to find the ring. Last week, they finally began their search. The Wards said they searched for five hours for two days, totaling 10 hours.

“We were doing a grid pattern search,” Joe said. “We’d go (opposite) lanes, he’d go this way and I’d go this way. Then we’d switch lanes and then repeat the process. He was trying to remember exactly where things were located.”

The Wards thought either the ring was found within the last 50 years or the base added topsoil to the area, making it even more difficult to find the ring.

“I think it’s here where it belongs,” Joe said. “It’s staying here forever. That makes me feel better at least.”

On the second day, the Wards said they were questioned by their first officials.

“They stopped and asked what we were doing and told us we couldn’t do it,” John said. “We had them call our contact in the military on base and he told them ‘Yeah, they can do it.’”

“The Archaeology Department and the Public Works department showed up and they said, ‘Oh, we had the MPs call us because people were saying that two guys are just searching around and digging,’” Joe said. “They’re worried about people stealing archaeological finds, so they were just double checking.”

As Lawtonians know, the soil here is very dense. When it’s dry, it’s even harder to dig up, a fact the Wards soon discovered.

“The ground is just like cement,” Joe said. “We almost bent these regular shovels, I mean we’d stand on it and we’d try to wiggle it.”

The Wards said they used metal detectors to try to find the ring, but all they got was trash.

“We found the smallest little pull tabs from beer cans from the ‘70s, which are the size of a ring,” Joe said. “We were even consulting the directions and making sure we had all the settings right. You’re constantly staring at it and making adjustments and every time it’d go off, there would be excitement, but then it’d also be dread, because I’m thinking, ‘Ah, we gotta dig now.’ But if we don’t dig, we might not find the ring.”

When the Wards were digging divots in the soil to try to find the ring, they said they had a bucket. They would dig the hole, put the soil in the bucket, then replace the soil after every dig.

The Wards said the search was more difficult than they thought.

“I was kind of convinced it’d be like an hour, but it was more challenging, heat wise,” Joe said.

Even though the Wards didn’t find the ring, it was still a memorable trip. John showed Joe where he was born, where they used to live, etc.

“It was a good bonding moment,” Joe said.