REVEALS: Paul Walker secretly bought Iraq war veteran a £5,500 engagement ring

Paul Walker made one couple’s dreams come true when he secretly bought them a £5,500 ($9,000) engagement ring as a surprise gesture.

As film stars, friends and fans pay tribute to the late actor, who tragically died in a car crash in California on Saturday, stories are emerging of just how kind-natured and caring the charity worker was.

And this latest one is the perfect example.

While shopping in his local Santa Barbara jewelry store back in 2004, a young military couple, who were browsing for engagement rings, introduced themselves to the actor, explaining they were fans.

Kyle Upham and wife Kristen have had their suspicions confirmed (Picture: Facebook).After a quick conversation in which Walker learned the husband-to-be was about to head on his second deployment to Iraq, they carried on with their search. But the couple soon conceded to the jewelry store assistant that the ring they’d fallen in love with was out of their budget.

Once they’d left the store, which has now closed its Santa Barbara branch, generous Paul told the cashier he wanted to secretly purchase the ring for them and instructed her to call the couple back later in the day to give them his thoughtful gift.

While they never knew for sure who their mystery gift-giver was, soldier Kyle Upham and now wife Kristen always assumed it was the Hollywood star.

And now the shop assistant who served Walker has come forward, saying she wanted the world to know just what kind of man Paul was.

And speaking to CBS today, Kristen Upham said: ‘When he found out Kyle just came back from Iraq – I remember seeing the look in his face. He kind of transformed.

‘His real life speaks volumes of his character. He really did put his money where his mouth is and did good for this world.’

On hearing of this kind act, Paul Walker snr – the father of the actor – has said: ‘Every now and then I’ll really break down. Talking really seems to help…there’s just such a tremendous amount of stories.

‘I was just told that my son gave a marine a diamond ring to give to a gal he was going to marry. I never heard that story. He did stuff like that all the time.’