mystery ring from the cbi

Below are photos of a ring found while metal detecting.  The email below describes the ring in the words of the finder's mother.   I have enhanced the photos, but can't find a reference to this ring, or it's relevance to the USAAF during WWII.

Any help is welcome.  Please email your replies here.   Thanks in advance!!

From:
Sent: Monday, April 11, 2005 7:36 AM
To: neal@gardnerworld.com
Subject: question
 

Hi.  I was wondering if you can help me.  My son was metal detecting and found a ring with CBI on one side, 1944 on the other, and Eagles wings in the middle.  Do you know who was given this ring and the significance of it??  I would really appreciate any help.  Thanks.

Mrs. Y

The original photos:

   The enhanced ring views:                                                       

      Further enhanced:   

The original photos were taken at 72 dpi so enlarging them with clarity is difficult.  I resized them to 1200 dpi and used Applied Science Fiction's SHO/ROC software to enhance the shadows.   One interesting note, in the enhanced photo of the ring showing the date, it actually appears to be 1994, which could signify the 50th Anniversary of something that happened in 1944, but there may have been a strikeover when the ring was made and the 9 is really a 4. However, the finder has reassured me that it is 1944 very clearly on the ring.

The images above are two versions of pilot wings.  I believe that the first set is from today's Air Force, and the middle set is from WWII's USAAF (I could be wrong).  The last image is a bracelet I acquired from a trader on eBay.   It's close to the original size and I put it there just to show that specialized jewelry was made for CBI'ers during and after the war.