NationStates Jolt Archive

Marine Chooses Wedding Ring Over Finger
Associated Press
December 13, 2004

VICTORVILLE, Calif. - 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.

The 19-year-old former high school football star suffered a mangled left hand and serious wounds to his legs in a Nov. 13 fire fight in Fallujah. Battle, who is recovering at his parents' home in this desert city 80 miles northeast of Los Angeles, came under attack as he and fellow Marines entered a building. Eleven other Marines were wounded.

Doctors were preparing to cut off Battle's ring to save as much of his finger as they could.

"But that would mean destroying my wedding ring," he said. "My wife is the strongest woman I know. She's basically running two people's lives since I've been gone. I don't think I could ever repay her or show her how grateful ... how much I love my wife, my soul mate."

With his approval, doctors severed his finger, but somehow in the chaos that followed, they lost his ring.

Although Battle was disappointed, his wife, Devon, said she was honored.

"I can't believe he did that," she said. "At first I was mad when he told me, but then I realized how lucky I am to have him in my life."

The couple, who met in the eighth grade, were married in June, just two weeks before Battle left for Iraq. He hopes to eventually return to the Marines, and to replace his wedding ring, but that will have to wait until he recovers.

In the meanwhile, Battle's high school has planned a banquet in his honor next week.

"We need to make more David Battles," said Daniel Pierce, the school's assistant head coach. "He is one amazing guy."

lol, his name was "Battle" and he was in a war.

Anyway I think that was perhaps an honourable, but inescapably stupid act. Think of how useful your finger is. Not to mention that with less finger, it would be easier to lose the ring - which is what happened.

You can fix a ring, but you can't grow another finger.

lol, his name was "Battle" and he was in a war.

Anyway I think that was perhaps an honourable, but inescapably stupid act. Think of how useful your finger is. Not to mention that with less finger, it would be easier to lose the ring - which is what happened.

You can fix a ring, but you can't grow another finger.
Yeah and I am sure she would have been HAPPY if he had died from a staff infection too lol(always a distinct possibility)


“Sorry your wedding ring killed your husband”

married at 19?!

married at 19?!
Ehhh young but not THAT young (specially if you are looking at historically)

Ehhh young but not THAT young (specially if you are looking at historically)

True enough. My mom was 19 and my dad 21. They'd likely still be married if my dad hadn't died in a tractor accident.

He's obviously not the sharpest tool in the shed.

He's obviously not the sharpest tool in the shed.
aye, theres no accounting for stupidity

aye, theres no accounting for stupidity
Sure there is ... I count at least one :) (the guy in the article)

there is honorable and then there is just plain old fashioned DUMB

i would not be happy with my husband if he were stupid enough to lose a finger to save a ring.

Oh come on, it's a sweet little story. Leave your cynicism outside. ;)

I really don't see why that is honourable. Would it have been dishonourable if he had chosen his finger?

It's a sweet sentiment...however, I would've asked the surgeon to save my finger and hand over the ring. Even if they cut the ring, they could've gotten it repaired.

Some of you are missing the point of the story. It is not that he choose a ring over a finger......it is the fact that he was willing to sacrifice something of his for the woman he loves!

It is honorable indeed. Too few people lack the will to sacrifice something for someone else now a days. I think, in a morbid manner, it was a beautiful act of true love.

David Battle- Text book example of a dumbass. First- jock. Second- CUT OFF his finger instead of getting it healed. Third- Stupid, flaterable wife. He uselessly gets his finger removed instead of trying to save it for a RING, and she praises him? She should have given him a blank look and then divorced him. Probably a traditional football jock-cheerleader type of thing anyway... Bleh.

married at 19?!

At 18 men can join the military. If they can die for their country at 18, I see no problem with them marrying at 19.

Moreover, he was a soldier. Men in the military marry earlier because they are afraid to lose the one they love to someone else. Plus, marriage gives them more security while over seas, and offers them a comfort in heart they cannot receive on the battlefield.

I would imagine that the finger was probably in really bad shape as it was to make him choose between that and the ring.

Also, he was probably in shock, trying to do the whole post-combat inventory of his life and got hooked on that whole soulmate BS. That's how they get you.

What strikes me more than him choosing against his finger is that someone ended up with that ring and didn't tell anyone. Even in the chaos of that operating room/wherever, things like that don't just get kicked under a table. And I doubt it got sewed up into someone like a junior mint.

To steal a wedding band from a wounded G.I....

Wow.

Some of you are missing the point of the story. It is not that he choose a ring over a finger......it is the fact that he was willing to sacrifice something of his for the woman he loves!

It is honorable indeed. Too few people lack the will to sacrifice something for someone else now a days. I think, in a morbid manner, it was a beautiful act of true love.
Which is exactly why I posted it. Thank you for understanding.

Honor Is Not Dead, it's just turned into walking around with your head up your ass. Yeah, saving a ring instead of a finger will REALLY help your spouse... publicity aside, it doesn't do anything. Sweet? Sure, people prefering a useless piece of metal to their self... Sweet as saccharine, yup. Before you say h0n0rzz0r/s4cr1f1c3 iz t3h 1337!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111, think about it- getting your ring destroyed, a replacable type of thing, has no real consequences. However, getting a finger chopped off is currently permanent, since we can't replace it with a thingy like Luke's hand, and doesn't help your spouse in any way. Now, if he had saved someone from a terrible fate and as a result got wounded, then it would have been commendable. This was a useless non-sacrifice.

I understand the sentimentality of the story, but I think he has a larger responsibility of getting back in one piece.

It was a wonderful gesture, but a ring is just a symbol, a finger is real.

i dont think honour is dead, but i do believe that it is dying.

now, what is so honourable about sacrificing flesh and blood for a material possesion? some would argue that the wedding ring is actually more of a symbol than anything else and that is why he did it, but the ring is still physical. replaceable. honour should not be tied in with anything material.

lets play a 'what if' situation. what if his entire hand was badly mauled and he chose his ring over his hand for the very same reason, would that still be honourable?

a more 'honourable' action would be to cut the ring save the finger. repair the ring or get it replaced. inform the wife about the ring. let her know how sorry he feels for choosing his finger over the ring. let her know that he still loves her and that no material object can truly represent his love for her. If the wife truly loves him, she will understand.

the soldier could have chosen a better option.

Question:

Since he sacrificed the finger, on which finger does he now wear the ring?

This, and chivalry, is stupid.

Not that this is connected in any way to honor.

That's actually really romantic, to me. :)

A bunch of dead souls will mutter about saving the finger. Now go about and do your daily dutys: eat, sleep, watch TV, and work in your cubicles finding solutions to math equations. Hahahaha this reminds me of Theodore Roosevelt again.

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

"Citizenship in a Republic,"
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

This, and chivalry, is stupid.

well, our society has become so materialistic that if an action does not have an equal value in terms of material wealth or benefits than the action would be deemed stupid silly ridiculous. but thats the problem. we have become so materialistic and we dont see it.

its like saying, "i will do good so that i can go to heaven". now that wont get you to heaven. why? because you did a 'good' deed with hopes of getting rewarded. that means you are greedy. and isnt greed one of the 7 sins?

if you wanna do a good deed, do it because you want to. the same goes with chivalry, honour and a whole lot of good values that has been warped or gone down the drain. good values are not stupid nor are they silly. its just that people these days have made them so like the article about the soldier. that soldiers actions was not honourable.

apologies if i went off topic.

I'm not bashing honourable and chivalrous activities- I'm bashing stupid ones that do nothing-1. If he had actually done something heroic, kudos to him for it. However, choosing an easily replacable symbol over your own finger is just... stupid.
Example: Protecting a bunch of innocent people from people that were attacking them is heroic. The thing that happened in this article is not.

I thought it was funny (at least in a sick way) that they ended up losing the ring anyway. That must suck!

Wow. That man wants sex.