Men's ring found in Okinawa immediately after WWII

This ring was found by my grandmother near Futenma River in Okinawa right after WWII. (1945 or 1946) 50 years after my grandmother passed away, my mother found it in the box. Last summer when I visited Okinawa, she gave it to me to find its owner or his family to return it. Does anyone know whom or where should I contact?

 

Thank you Lou for responding to my post. There is a number "113" stamped inside the ring but nothing else. I heard that this types of the rings were pretty popular in the 40's. Hope someone will recognize it.

 

It would also be helpful to have a more specific area other than by a river. I realize you may not have any idea, since it was found so long ago. However, any additional information you can provide may be helpful.

The other problem is that there were several Army and Marine units that would have been on Okinawa in 1945-46. It will be difficult to narrow down the Division or Regiment, let alone the individual. Of course, that's never stopped us from trying before!

 

This is likeky a Higschool grauduation ring, so you could try comparing makers and schools with similar ones, so you'd get a closer lead. Then find out who has the initial "R" .

 

Thank you very much everyone for your responses to my post. I researched a little and I found out that [SIZE=11pt]the 96th Infantry Division (382nd Infantry Regiment, 383rd Infantry Regiment) was in the area during the war. I found the website and sent an email if they have any information.[/SIZE]

 

I believe it is a stylized LR, rather than just R.

 

From the HyperWar website -- Okinawa: The Last Battle (Chapter 3)

While the 96th may be the most likely, note that there were reserve units mixed in as well. And, unless I am mistaken, I believe the 7th Division passed through the 96th Division at some point, which puts them in play as well.

So, if you strike out with the 96th Division, there are still other possibilities. I wish you all the best in returning the ring. Please let us know how your search turns out.

 

Perhaps 113 is the number of the school district? Anyway, it will certainly be a tough search but good luck none the less!

 

"L.R". seems a good guess for me too.

 

If it's a class ring wouldn't the "LR" be referencing the school instead of a persons name? I believe class rings usually have a year stamped on them to signify when the person graduated.

 

a picture of the inside and a closeup of the symbol(s) on the sides might help.
I googled L R highschool and here's what I got:
http://www.google.com/#q=l+r+high+school&spell=1&sa=X&ei=rXXMUYaYOsuD0QHJn4CwDw&ved=0CCgQBSgA&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.48572450,d.dmQ&fp=c7810c0bc6292216&biw=1080&bih=1768
I did find that a couple of the Little Rock high schools are old enough. You might see if you could get in contact with them to see if it matches designes used from them and if so what years.

Here's a web page that might prove useful in that:
http://www.lrcentralhigh.net/pdf/vol0104.pdf

 

I don't believe it's a high school or college ring. I google imaged many of them using different search criteria (vintage, antique, etc) and they always have the name of the school or the team name or the year - something. I think it's just a signet ring which was much more popular back in those days. I think it belonged to somebody with the initials L. R.

 

That's consistent with what I saw when I did the same but I didn't use vintage so assumed that might be a newer tradition.

 

Thank you everyone for your support and encouragement. I’ve been researching and reading about “Battle of Okinawa” for the last few days. Besides finding an owner of the ring, I’m learning a lot about what happened in Okinawa during the three months and it interests me very much.
I posted the same story on Facebook before I found this site, and received a lot of interests. One person found the below website which shows a ring that almost identical to the one I have.
http://www.trocadero.com/stores/vintagejewels/items/717520/item717520.html
Some say the initial is “R”, and other say it’s “LR”.
I also found the website called “96th Infantry Division Deadeye Association” and sent an email to the president of the association but haven’t received a reply yet.
I’ll keep you updated if there is any progress.

 

That match is very close. If I hadn't looked at both of them I would have said that one was an R and the one above an LR but having looked at both I'm not willing to make a call either way. Good luck on your research and thanks for the update.

 

That was a really good find! You should contact the seller and see if they have more information about the ring, if that type of ring was popular in a certain part of the country or a special order (like class rings) it might help narrow things down a bit more.

Good luck!