# Save my wedding ring doc, cut off my finger -- You lost your finger we lost your ring **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 12, 2004, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-my-wedding-ring-doc-cut-off-my-finger-you-lost-your-finger-we-lost-your-ring/279464 "2004-12-12T17:12:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kel_Varnsen_Latex_Division)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-my-wedding-ring-doc-cut-off-my-finger-you-lost-your-finger-we-lost-your-ring/279464/1 "2004-12-12T17:12:33Z")
> [@](#): > > When Marine Lance Cpl. David Battle learned he’d either have to sacrifice his ring finger or the wedding band he wore, he told doctors at a field hospital in Iraq to cut off the finger. > > snip > > With his approval, doctors severed his finger, but somehow in the chaos that followed, they lost his ring. Could this be any funnier? [http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/12/marine.finger.ap/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/12/marine.finger.ap/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Chimpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@Chimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimpy)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-my-wedding-ring-doc-cut-off-my-finger-you-lost-your-finger-we-lost-your-ring/279464/2 "2004-12-12T17:15:52Z")
Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-my-wedding-ring-doc-cut-off-my-finger-you-lost-your-finger-we-lost-your-ring/279464/3 "2004-12-12T17:19:39Z")
> [@Kel Varnsen - Latex Division](#): > > Could this be any funnier? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Uvula\_Donor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e19adc/32.png) [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-my-wedding-ring-doc-cut-off-my-finger-you-lost-your-finger-we-lost-your-ring/279464/4 "2004-12-12T17:21:41Z")
> [@Kel Varnsen - Latex Division](#): > > Could this be any funnier? Yeah. It coulda been you. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-my-wedding-ring-doc-cut-off-my-finger-you-lost-your-finger-we-lost-your-ring/279464/5 "2004-12-12T17:22:52Z")
> [@Uvula Donor](#): > > Yeah. It coulda been you. Now _that_ was funny. ---
**Author:** ![Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kel_Varnsen_Latex_Division)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-my-wedding-ring-doc-cut-off-my-finger-you-lost-your-finger-we-lost-your-ring/279464/6 "2004-12-12T17:23:36Z")
Not ha-ha funny. ---
**Author:** ![Chimpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@Chimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimpy)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-my-wedding-ring-doc-cut-off-my-finger-you-lost-your-finger-we-lost-your-ring/279464/7 "2004-12-12T17:26:42Z")
Then what sorta funny? It’s not odd, it’s not comedical, you could say it was ironic but not funny. ---
**Author:** ![Tiggrkitty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tiggrkitty/32/17966_2.png) [@Tiggrkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tiggrkitty)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-my-wedding-ring-doc-cut-off-my-finger-you-lost-your-finger-we-lost-your-ring/279464/8 "2004-12-12T17:27:31Z")
While the thought behind this was romantic, I think I would prefer my spouse to keep his finger and be damned with the ring. It is a symbol that can be replaced, the finger, will not grow back. ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-my-wedding-ring-doc-cut-off-my-finger-you-lost-your-finger-we-lost-your-ring/279464/9 "2004-12-12T17:28:13Z")
Ugh, that’s really unfortunate. Can’t believe that the doctors even agreed to do it, but perhaps his finger was so mangled already that maybe there wasn’t much to salvage anyway. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-my-wedding-ring-doc-cut-off-my-finger-you-lost-your-finger-we-lost-your-ring/279464/10 "2004-12-12T17:29:59Z")
I’m hoping there wasn’t all that much finger to save, or the story really is more about how a retarded man becomes a Lance Corporal in the US Miltary. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-my-wedding-ring-doc-cut-off-my-finger-you-lost-your-finger-we-lost-your-ring/279464/11 "2004-12-12T17:32:05Z")
> [@Tiggrkitty](#): > > It is a symbol that can be replaced, the finger, will not grow back. Hell, they can be fixed fairly easily. I had a ring cut off so that they could suture up a deep laceration caused _by_ the ring when it caught on the edge of the roof I slid off of (ah, memories). I can now no longer bend the last joint of that finger, but the ring itself was easily repaired. You could barely see the joint where it was soldered. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-my-wedding-ring-doc-cut-off-my-finger-you-lost-your-finger-we-lost-your-ring/279464/12 "2004-12-12T17:53:02Z")
> [@Chimpy](#): > > Then what sorta funny? It’s not odd, it’s not comedical, you could say it was ironic but not funny. So you’re saying that it’s not odd? At all? :rolleyes: It’s very odd. Limbs come first. The wife herself was like WTF, but then she understood how “lucky” she was. That is crazy. What would have happened he had a symbolic cock ring? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-my-wedding-ring-doc-cut-off-my-finger-you-lost-your-finger-we-lost-your-ring/279464/13 "2004-12-12T17:53:21Z")
**Kel** , it’s time to ask a Mod to close this thread before it gets moved to the **Pit**. I don’t think you’re going to get the reaction you expected and you just might be digging yourself a deeper pit, here. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-my-wedding-ring-doc-cut-off-my-finger-you-lost-your-finger-we-lost-your-ring/279464/14 "2004-12-12T18:08:57Z")
I see this as funny, in a bitterly ironic way. If this happened to me, I have no doubt I’d laugh at the irony of it once some period of time had passed. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-my-wedding-ring-doc-cut-off-my-finger-you-lost-your-finger-we-lost-your-ring/279464/15 "2004-12-12T18:14:59Z")
Not particularly funny. You take a guy, who’s willing to put a symbol of his love for his wife over his physical body? The case can be made either way that either the ring or finger are symbolic (one can be replaced, the other is rarely used), but the guy has guts. Not funny, but admirable. Tripler Irony at it’s best: The motto of the USMC is _Semper Fidelis_. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-my-wedding-ring-doc-cut-off-my-finger-you-lost-your-finger-we-lost-your-ring/279464/16 "2004-12-12T18:28:18Z")
> [@Tripler](#): > > You take a guy, who’s willing to put a symbol of his love for his wife over his physical body? The case can be made either way that either the ring or finger are symbolic (one can be replaced, the other is rarely used), but the guy has guts. I can’t board with this one. Sure, he has guts, but this guy needs counseling. The motive had good intentions, but I don’t see how a limb can be considered symbolic. What else could it represent? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-my-wedding-ring-doc-cut-off-my-finger-you-lost-your-finger-we-lost-your-ring/279464/17 "2004-12-12T18:40:20Z")
> [@ParentalAdvisory](#): > > What else could it represent? _Flips you the bird_ You tell me. p ---
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-my-wedding-ring-doc-cut-off-my-finger-you-lost-your-finger-we-lost-your-ring/279464/18 "2004-12-12T18:45:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Doctors were preparing to cut off Battle’s ring to save as much of his finger as they could. Looks like the finger wasn’t in good shape anyway. My wedding band has been in my wifes family for a few generations. Had I been this marine, I would have made the same choice. And God knows, I’d be pissed as hell when they lost the damn ring anyway. I feel sorry for the poor bastard. [sub]And the guys name is _Battle_?! How much irony can fit into one story?[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![nocturnal\_tick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3d9bf3/32.png) [@nocturnal\_tick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nocturnal_tick)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-my-wedding-ring-doc-cut-off-my-finger-you-lost-your-finger-we-lost-your-ring/279464/19 "2004-12-12T18:51:04Z")
What’s that saying about truth being stranger than fiction. An extract from **Merchant of Venice** : > [@](#): > > Bassanio: > > [Aside] Why, I were best to cut my left hand off > And swear I lost the ring defending it. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-my-wedding-ring-doc-cut-off-my-finger-you-lost-your-finger-we-lost-your-ring/279464/20 "2004-12-12T18:52:47Z")
My reaction was summed up better by “D’OH!” than “Ha! Ha!” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-my-wedding-ring-doc-cut-off-my-finger-you-lost-your-finger-we-lost-your-ring/279464.md?page=2)