A Maryland firefighter treasured a medallion his parents gave him at his recruit school graduation in 2005. He took it off at the beach and lost it in summer 2020.
But he has his prized possession back after nearly a year, thanks to a good Samaritan who combed the beach with a metal detector.
Prince George’s County Fire Battalion Chief Donny Fletcher lost his medallion during a vacation in the Outer Banks. “It means the world to me. It was a gift,” he said. “It was something I had worked hard to achieve.”
After being warned that sharks might be attracted to the necklace’s medallion when swimming in the ocean, Fletcher decided to take it off and leave it with his things on the shore.
Then, a wave came and swept up all of his things, including the necklace.
“We spread out across 40 or 50 yards wide by 20 yards deep, and we had 10 or 11 people out there digging,” he said.
There was no luck; Fletcher left the Outer Banks without his necklace and eventually gave up on ever finding it again.