She found a Marine ring on a Florida beach and traced it back to Parris Island. Here’s how

Suzanne Rogers was throwing a football on the beach during her first day of vacation in Siesta Key, Florida, when she spotted something shiny.

It was in the sand, partially buried.

She almost didn’t pick it up, guessing it was likely a can tab or similar piece of trash someone had discarded.

But something made her reach down.

What she found on Sunday was a large ring, silver. On one side, an engraving of the famous World War II flag-raising on Iwo Jima. On the other, an etching of Tun Tavern with the date “1775” — the Marine Corps’ Philadelphia birthplace.

Capping the ring was a red stone, adorned with the iconic eagle, globe and anchor — the Corps’ emblem.

She posted pictures of the ring on Facebook and Twitter and, as she told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette on Tuesday, began “Googling, Googling and Googling.”

Engraved on the ring was a unit designation — “Platoon 1041” — and the date of June 30, 2017.

Rogers’ Facebook post began to go viral, and Marines and family and friends messaged her with clues.

She kept Googling.

People kept writing in with guesses about the ring’s owner.

Her conversations and research led her to Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island.

There, Platoon 1041 — a Delta Company unit in 1st Recruit Training Battalion — had graduated boot camp on June 30, 2017.

A tipster gave Rogers the name “Jaime Andrade,” and she eventually made contact with him.

She said Andrade told her he’d lost the ring on the beach recently, which another Marine confirmed. He also said he’d actually graduated with a different Parris Island training platoon on July 14, 2017, because an injury caused him to stay an extra two weeks at boot camp.

Finally, he told her he was a Marine Corps Reservist.

Parris Island spokesperson Capt. Adam Flores confirmed Wednesday morning that a reservist by that name had graduated on that date.

Marine Forces Reserve spokesperson Raquel Paiz confirmed a Lance Cpl. Jaime A. Andrade hails from Florida and is an engineering equipment operator with Orlando-based Motor Transportation Company, Combat Logistics Battalion 451 in the 4th Marine Logistics Group.

Rogers said she asked Andrade why his graduation date didn’t match the engraving in the ring, and he explained he’d ordered it before the injury.

According to Marine Forces Reserve, Lance Cpl. Andrade’s pay entry date is April 3, 2017, which aligns with a late-June graduation date.

A call to a phone number and message to an email address listed for Andrade were not immediately returned Wednesday morning.

Rogers and her husband, who are from Georgia, met Andrade on Tuesday night,and she returned the ring.

She treated him to a beer and a game of pool, she wrote in a Facebook post.

“(H)e is a super sweet guy,” she wrote.

“He does not have Facebook,” she continued, “he says he doesn’t care too much for all that.”

She posted a winking smiley face emoji.

An “lol.”

And said: “Oh and we are totally best friends now.”

Which is just as good as Facebook friends.

This story was originally published July 25, 2018 at 12:35 PM.