MOBILE, Alabama — A chance find in a Mississippi pawn shop has led a Mobile attorney on an unexpected mission: returning a decorated Korean War veteran’s long-lost Naval officer’s sword more than 40 years after it was stolen.
Attorney Chip Herrington said he spotted the sword while driving home from a case in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, and immediately recognized it as a Naval officer’s sword rather than the Civil War piece the shop had listed. A self-described history enthusiast, Herrington talked the shop down from $100 to $40 and took it home, where he noticed a name engraved on the blade: Roy M. Johnsen.
A bit of internet research led Herrington to a decorated Navy pilot of the same name who flew missions during the Korean War and now lives in Pennsylvania at age 85. Herrington tracked down a phone number and called Johnsen directly, asking whether he was missing a sword.
“He didn’t say anything for a long time,” Herrington recalled, before Johnsen revealed the sword had been stolen from him more than four decades earlier. Herrington offered to return it as a gesture of thanks for Johnsen’s military service, and the two spoke for roughly 45 minutes, with Herrington describing the restored Douglas A-1 Skyraider — the same aircraft Johnsen flew during the war — now on display at the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile.
After Herrington shared the story on social media and tagged Johnsen, the post drew wider attention, including inquiries from national media outlets. Herrington said he now hopes to fly Johnsen down to Mobile so the two can meet in person and formally return the sword.
“Words cannot describe the satisfaction I received from reuniting this true American hero with his long-lost but well-earned symbol of courage and honor,” Herrington wrote, capturing the sentiment behind an unlikely reunion sparked by a routine drive home from work.