Turney Leonard’s Ring
The Aggie Ring is one of the most cherished and visible symbols at Texas A&M. The tradition began with the class of 1898. In the early years the ring appeared in several different designs until E.C. Jonas, Class of 1894, designed the ring that has been worn by Aggies ever since with only one change in 1963 when the Legislature of the State of Texas changed the university’s name from Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas to Texas A&M University and the ring was updated to reflect that change. Turney Leonard went to war proudly wearing his Aggie ring which displayed his class year ’42 below the shield at the center of the ring and his name on the inside of the band.
Shortly after the war, a young German was part of a team assigned by the Americans to clear the wreckage of war in the Kommerscheidt area. During their search, the young man came across the expected evidence of battle—shell casings, belt buckles, buttons. He saved some items as remembrances of this terrible event and these mementos eventually found their way into a box which sat undisturbed in his attic for 56 years. In the fall of 2000, this man was asked by his son-in-law, an officer in the German army, to relate his memories of the war. The older man brought out his long forgotten box of items collected from the battlefield. In that box the younger man saw the war artifacts he would have expected but also spotted a gold ring and knew that this ring had to have been special to someone.
They set out to find the owner. When their initial efforts to identify the owner of the ring were unsuccessful, they turned to a US Army Liason Officer in Cologne, Germany for assistance. That officer quickly identified the ring as an Aggie ring and all were surprised when they learned that the ring belonged to Medal of Honor recipient, Turney Leonard, who had lost his life on that battlefield near Kommerscheidt. Texas A&M was contacted and within a week the German officer, Lt. Obit Volker Lossner, was on the A&M campus returning the ring to Turney Leonard’s only surviving sibling, Douglas Leonard.
In his remarks at the return ceremony, Lt. Lossner explained what motivated him to return the ring. “I feel somehow bound to [Leonard] — as a soldier to a soldier,” he said. “Because like him, I am also a soldier, I wanted to learn something about the person who wore this ring. In no way could I have imagined it might belong to a famous hero.” Lossner felt compelled to return the ring in person. “I have come a long way,” Lossner said to the family, friends of representatives of Texas A&M gathered for the ceremony “to honor a brave son of this country and graduate of this university—a man who brought honor to his nation, to his fellow countrymen, to his school and to his name.”
Lossner humbly expressed his gratitude for his country’s former enemy.
“Lt. Leonard was one of many who came to liberate my country. And my country has used the chance given by his death and those of his comrades to once again become a full and democratic state…. We owe a debt of gratitude to Turney White Leonard and his fallen Americans, for which I simply say, ‘danke schoen.'”
At that ceremony, Turney Leonard’s family presented his ring and his Medal of Honor to the University. Both are now on permanent display in the Sanders Corps Center on the A&M campus.
But the story does not end there…Lt. Lossner saw something special during his visit to Texas A&M University. He and his family were inspired by the Aggie Spirit. Lt. Lossner’s sons, Sebastian and Jonas, both came to Texas to attend A&M. Sebastian reflected that as a student he often visited the Sanders Corps Center to look at the case holding Turney Leonard’s ring and re-read Leonard’s Medal of Honor citation. Jonas recognizes the importance of sharing this improbable story to show that “former enemies” can become friends — even family. The Lossner brothers are filled with gratitude for this man, who they never knew, who sacrificed so much and touched their lives and the lives of so many.
Both Sebastian and Jonas now proudly wear their Aggie rings.