Reunited with a precious bracelet, a U.S. vet makes friends with the man who found and returned...

When Petr Švihovec went for a walk in the Czech woods with his metal detector last fall, he never could have imagined what he’d find — or that it would take him across the globe.

At the site of a former POW camp, he unearthed a small, silver bracelet that belonged to an American soldier, a soldier who, to Švihovec’s shock, was still alive in a small city he knew nothing about: Grand Junction, Colorado, USA.

Months later, that’s where Švihovec was, readying himself to knock on the veteran’s door. He smiled and breathed heavily. He’d come all the way from Prague.

“I am so happy, but so nervous,” he said.

Joe Esquibel was just a teenager when he bought that bracelet right before shipping off to war. He had his own signature engraved on one side, and on the other, scratched his girlfriend’s name: Lydia. After the war, Joe and Lydia were married for nearly 70 years, until she died in 2019.

It was their oldest daughter, Jolene Esquibel-Archuleta, who greeted Švihovec at the door of her big, Southwestern-themed house.

“It’s so nice to meet you!” she said, giving him a hug and walking him into the living room, where Esquibel was waiting in an easy chair. “OK, Dad, here he is, the man of the hour. I should say, the men of the hour!”