This is a beautiful story.
"Mark and Mindy Turner moved to a small Bavarian village, so he could take a job as an air traffic controller at the nearby
U.S. Army installation in Ansbach. Earlier this month, the couple
accepted a dinner invitation from their neighbors, Martin and Regina
Kiss."
"A 64-year-old master church painter by trade, Martin Kiss is also a
skilled artist, and after dinner he showed his visitors around his
studio. Then he mentioned he had something else he'd like them to see.
Kiss disappeared into the living room and returned with a gold ring — then told a story."
"The Kiss family was Hungarian — the name is pronounced "KISH" — and
comes from an area in the northern part of present-day Serbia. They ran a
small pub near the Danube River."
"A Russian soldier on his way home after the war traded the ring to
the family — presumably in exchange for room and board, Kiss'
grandmother told him. His "Oma" gave it to him when he moved to Germany
in 1971 — for luck, or in case he needed some quick cash."
"Kiss wore it proudly on his pinkie. He realized it must have come
from an American soldier, but didn't know how to trace its owner —
especially in a new country that wasn't all that eager to talk about the
war."
"Worried it might get damaged as he worked, Kiss placed the ring in a corked glass bottle with an old coin and a gold chain."
"Still, he never stopped thinking about the original owner — and now,
with two computer-savvy Americans in his home, he decided it was time to
try and find him."
"Mark Turner went online when he got back home. Within 20 minutes, he'd hit pay dirt."
