Former POW's wedding ring returned 44 years later

ADDISON, Texas (AP) - It still fits.

A former Air Force pilot who spent more than seven years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam has his wedding ring back decades after it was confiscated.

Ceremonies were held on Veterans Day in suburban Dallas to honor retired Lt. Col. James Hivner (HIV'-ner) of Plano, who slipped the ring on his finger, saying "It fits, ta-dah."

His wife, Phyllis, says her spouse is the family's hero.

Hivner's plane was shot down in 1965. His captors took his wedding band and dog tags.

Retired Navy Cmdr. Rick Tolley says someone he knows was approached in Hanoi by a man who said he was retiring from the Vietnamese army.

Tolley, who helped locate Hivner, says the Vietnamese man asked that items he had be returned "with peace and respect."

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)