Man who plays Santa finds long lost ring, returns to veteran

Any class ring is special, but a U.S. Naval Academy class ring is something that only the elite in our country will ever earn the right to wear.

David Lorenzo, Class of 1964, had his ring on through numerous combat missions while serving in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. The veteran Marine Corps fighter pilot even had his Naval Academy ring on when his F-8 Crusader was hit by enemy fire forcing him to eject over Laos in January 1968 − he was rescued a few hours later by U.S. forces.

He would eventually return to the United States, and about six years after graduation, golfing with his father in Pennsylvania, he lost the prized ring somewhere on the course.

“It survived combat, but it couldn’t survive my golf game,” said Lorenzo, a sturdy and tough-looking 82-year-old.

Now, Lorenzo and that ring have been reunited thanks to a Pennsylvania man who found the ring this summer on the same golf course that Lorenzo lost the ring on 54 years ago. Michael Zenert was near the fourth green at Uniontown Country Club near Pittsburgh when he found the ring in a clay splotch that had been exposed by recent rains.

“I saw this shiny thing and I thought it was a beer can tab,” said Zenert, 70. “I dug it out so no one would step on it and I saw it was a ring.” He cleaned it up and saw it was a U.S. Naval Academy ring, class of 1964, with Lorenzo’s name engraved on the inside.

On Friday, Zenert returned the ring to Lorenzo at the National Naval Aviation Museum at Naval Air Station Pensacola, where Lorenzo is a volunteer and also the narrator for the Tuesday Blue Angels practices and Wednesday autograph sessions with the U.S. Navy’s elite flight demonstration team.

“Let’s see if it still fits,” Zenert said after handing Lorenzo the ring in front of family members, friends and museum staff.

“I never thought I would see it again,” Lorenzo said. “It was very sad when I lost it, and this means a lot.” Lorenzo’s wife, Cathy, purchased him a new one years later, identical to the ring he lost. It’s on his hand now. But Lorenzo tried to put his old ring on as well. It had been so long.

“Does it fit?” Zenert asked.

“Very close,” Lorenzo said, holding up his hand. “I can get it to the first knuckle.”

He’s bigger now. Wiser and older too.

Mike Zenert, of Irwin, Pennsylvania, points to Dave Lorenzo’s Naval Academy ring worn by his wife Cathy Lorenzo at the National Naval Aviation Museum onboard NAS Pensacola in Pensacola,…