Air Force returns wedding ring to pilot's wife

When Captain George Houghton's plane crashed at the Utah Test and Training Range, all that his widow, Josie Houghton, wanted officials to recover from the crash site was her late husband's titanium wedding, according to the Associated Press.

Major Robert Ungerman, a friend of Captain Houghton, was the liaison officer for the Houghton family, and was in charge of returning the pilot's belongings to his wife.

However, the news source reports that the debris from the crash was spread over a mile wide, and officials feared that it was very unlikely that they would be able to recover the wedding band.

"They basically told me, 'We'll do what we can, but don't get your hopes up,' so I figured it was kind of a lost cause," Houghton told the news provider.

According to the AirForceTimes.com, the crash site was the size of eight football fields.

However, and in a stroke of luck, one of the military personnel who were involved in the search for the wedding ring saw something shiny gleaming in the sunlight. He was elated when he realized it was the missing band.

When Major Ungerman returned the ring to Houghton, she burst into tears. "There have been some amazing people who have gone to great lengths to let me know he's not forgotten and that I'm not forgotten," Houghton told the AP.