Being able to do a good deed

[saanich2018]

Part of my job I do civilian military contract work. I’m currently in Fort Walton Beach Florida working with Elgin Air Force Base. Since it’s the weekend I had extra time so I had brought my metal detector with me to play with on the beach. Today, walking on the beach a young man came up to me and said that he saw me from the balcony of his condo. He was wanting to know if I could possibly help them. He said he was a Navy helicopter pilot and a group of them from Virginia are down here doing a joint training exercise at the Air Force Base. He said last night a group of them were walking on the beach and when they got back to the condos his body realize that he lost his good luck charm and was very upset because he never flies without it. I asked him what it was and he said it was a small 18 karat gold crucifix with a sterling silver Christ on it, about an inch and a half long. I asked him if he knew the general area where they had lost it and he didn’t. He just said that they were walking on the beach and when they got back it was gone.
I said look at the size of this beach. I said it runs for miles and it’s about 75 yards wide in a lot of places. I said I’ve got my one detector and the odds of me being able to find something like that are very very slim. He looked disappointed and thanked me and started to walk away when I stopped him. I then reached into my pocket and pulled out the crucifix and asked if it looked something like this? He couldn’t believe it and frankly neither could I. I had found it about 20 minutes earlier about 500 feet down the beach. I would love to know what the odds are of been able to find this and being able to return it to the correct owner. Maybe it was mean to lead him on but there was never any question that I was going to give it to him. It made me feel happy to be able to do it

 

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[Bayoutalker]

Divine intervention? Sounds good to me.

 

[Armstrong]

Its the right thing to do, talk about good timing for him. I found a gold cross at work and turned it in years ago. It turned out to be an employee that had dropped it and was happy to get it back. It was in the floor drain so I was lucky to find it.

 

[smallfoot]

There will be good karma for you...

 

[Terry Soloman]

Honorable Mention Vote all day long! God Bless You!!

 

[nuggetdog]

Love it, you did the right thing[emoji106]

 

[cudamark]

I had the same thing happen to me with a lost cross. The guy had been jogging down the beach and when he was done, noticed his family heirloom cross pendant was missing. He asked for my help finding it. I wanted to know the boundaries of the search area, so. we met up and he showed me. Well, it turned out to be about a 1/4 mile of beach that was at least 50 yards wide the entire way. We met at one end of the search area and walked to the other end so he could show me the other limit. I figured I'd go ahead and detect as we walked to the other end. I was getting absolutely no targets on this walk until I got just about to the other end to start my grid when I got a solid low tone. Sure enough, it was his cross. To grid that whole beach would have taken be over a month, so, it was just shear luck to stumble on to it.....or was it?........

 

[brianc053]

Saanich you may have literally saved that pilot's life. The reason I say that is that pilots can be superstitious, and if that gentleman got into his helicopter without his lucky charm then he could have been distracted by that fact or in a negative place mentally, meaning that he wouldn't be focused on the task at hand - flying safely - and could have had an accident. Of course there's no way to know, and thankfully we never will have to because you gave him back his crucifix.
Now - the way that you put him on an emotional rollercoaster might have been a bit mean, but alls-well-that-ends-well and he'll probably laugh about it.

PS - I was stationed at NAS Pensacola waiting for flight school during my Navy days, so I know that area and those beaches. The odds were super low that you'd find that for him. Super glad you did. (I didn't get to become a pilot because I was medically disqualified due to a previously undiagnosed issue that only came to light during my flight physical).

 

[Rmeav8r]

Nice job! You did all of us a great service by returning the item. I’m a retired Army Pilot, I flew rotor wing and fixed wing for over 25 years...lots of pilots had small items like that that they’ve had for years....superstitious... maybe...but why risk it. Again, great job!

 

[BH505Man]

God bless you. You did the right thing and good karma comes back to you.