KEITH "MATT" MAUPIN
"Love Never Loses Its Way Home"
A solemn homecoming
Maupin death suspects to be executed
By Michelle Tan - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Apr 18, 2008 11:58:05 EDT
Two people have been sentenced to death for capturing Staff Sgt. Keith M. “Matt” Maupin in Iraq, and the military is searching for more individuals believed to be responsible for his capture and death, the soldier’s father said Thursday.
Maupin disappeared more than four years ago, on April 9, 2004, west of Baghdad, when insurgents attacked his convoy using rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire. His remains and part of his uniform were found March 20, buried in an isolated agricultural region about 25 miles northwest of Baghdad.
“They’ve got some of the bad guys and they’re going after the rest of them,” said Maupin’s father, also named Keith. “We don’t want to jeopardize anything, [but] justice will be done. Show me anywhere in any religion where killing innocent people is the right thing to do.”
Keith Maupin said he has one question for the men convicted of taking his son: “Why did you kill him? You didn’t have to do that. He didn’t have a weapon.”
The military has identified and is searching for six or eight more suspects, Keith Maupin said. The two already in custody were convicted in the Iraqi court system and are now going through the appeals process, he said.
“Either way, these guys won’t be walking downtown Baghdad for a long time,” he said.
Keith and Carolyn Maupin, the soldier’s parents, met with Army officials Thursday at the Pentagon to get an update on the investigation into their son’s death. Matt Maupin’s brother, Micah, a Marine sergeant, also was at the briefing.
During the meeting, the family spoke with Army officials in Iraq via video teleconference.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment found Matt Maupin’s remains.
“I believed a long time ago that the surge was going to help find Matt, and as it turns out, it did,” Keith Maupin said. “[The soldiers] were able to go into an area and they were able to keep the peace and over time [the locals] talked to them.
“We’re so grateful that they didn’t give up on Matt and they were able to find him, because they put themselves in harm’s way to find him,” he said.
The Maupin family was told that the battalion planned to display their son’s photo on its memorial wall.
“Matt will forever be a part of the unit,” Keith Maupin said. “That was important to me, that people never forget Matt.”
Services for Matt Maupin are set for April 26 and 27.
Micah Maupin will escort his brother’s remains back to Cincinnati. Visitation will be from 11 a.m. April 26 to 7 a.m. April 27 at Union Township Civic Center. The memorial service is at 1 p.m. at the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati. The private interment will be at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery.
Keith Maupin said the family’s four-year wait for his son is finally coming to a close.
“For us, it’s going to be resolved because we know where he is now,” he said. “I couldn’t control how Matt came home, but I would have died before they left him there in Iraq. Not on my watch.”
On the Web:
Yellow Ribbon Support Center
Matt Maupin Web site
Cincinnati.Com » The Enquirer » Local news » Maupin services set
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Last Updated: 8:19 pm | Saturday, April 5, 2008
Maupin services set
THE ENQUIRER
Memorial services for Staff Sgt. Matt Maupin will be held April 26 and 27, the soldier’s father, Keith Maupin, confirmed today.
The family is planning a 24-hour visitation and vigil for their son at Union Township Civic Center in Eastgate on April 26.
Funeral services will be held on April 27, at a downtown Cincinnati location that has yet to be determined. The family is looking for a venue large enough to hold the thousands of people who are expected to pay their respects to the fallen Clermont County soldier.
Keith Maupin said today that his family was in talks with officials at Great American Ball Park about possibly holding the services there.
“We just don’t know of any other place that will be big enough,” he said.
Services will be followed by a burial at the Gate of Heaven in Montgomery.
• Message board: Share your thoughts with the Maupins
• Photos: Matt Maupin, his family, and community support through the four years he was missing
POW bracelets may be mailed here:
Yellow Ribbon Support Center -
(513) 752-4310
hosted by Keith and Carolyn Maupin parents of Keith "Matt" Maupin
700 S Eastgate Blvd, Suite 430, Cincinnati, Ohio 45245
Matt Maupin's younger brother, Micah, is a Marine Corps sergeant based at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego. The 23-year-old is due to fly to the East Coast this week to pick up his brother's remains.
After Micah Maupin reenlists, his family says, he'll likely be heading to Iraq.
"He's his own man, and I respect that," said Keith Maupin, who served in the Marines during the war in Vietnam. "But I can't bear the thought of losing another son.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-soldier2apr02,1,3947456.story
http://www.fox19.com/global/story.asp?s=8091139
March 30, 2008
Quote:
(UNION TOWNSHIP, OH) -- Keith Maupin confirmed this afternoon that the remains of his son, Matt Maupin, have been identified by the army in Iraq.
In a statement Keith said "We are proud of the continued efforts of the military and the army to return Matt to us. We must now work on efforts to return Matt.'
"Please keep the military and our family in your prayers."
Carolyn Maupin, Matt's mother said, "Thanks to everyone for their prayers and continued strength of the family."
"It hurts after four years of hope and this is what happens it is like a let down for me and I'm trying to get thru that right now."
"Pray. This is going to be very difficult and stay by our side in support."
Keith says that the family was informed this afternoon about 1p-m by a three star general. The body was identified by the D-N-A remains.
MAUPIN, Keith "Matt"
Name: Keith "Matt" Maupin
Branch/Rank: U.S. Army Reserves / Pfc Spec Sgt
Unit: Army Reserves 724th Transportation Company, Bartonville, Ill
Date of Birth/Age: 20
Home City of Record: Batavia, OH
Date of Loss: April 9, 2004
Country of Loss: Iraq
Original Status: Duty Status Where-A-Bouts Unknown
April 19, 2004 - ARMY Changes Status to MISSING CAPTURED
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Other Personnel in Incident: Six other Kellogg, Brown & Root employees; Thomas Hamill; Sgt. Elmer C. Krause
IMAGE: Missing Army reserve Pfc. Keith M. Maupin, 20, who is known as ‘Matt,’ in his 2001 high school yearbook.
AP file photo
Source: Compiled by P.O.W. NETWORK from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews, FOX NEWS online, MSNBC News online, CNN News online. Updated April 2005.
Synopsis: The U.S. military said two American soldiers and seven employees of U.S. contractor Kellogg, Brown & Root were missing after their convoy was ambushed Friday, April 9, near Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad.
Only one, Thomas Hamill, a 43-year-old truck driver from Macon, Miss., was previously known to have been abducted. His captors have threatened to kill and mutilate him unless U.S. troops ended their assault on the city of Fallujah. The deadline passed Sunday with no word on his fate.
New videotape aired on Friday on Al-Jazeera which broadcast a video which showed a young man wearing camouflage and a floppy desert hat. He was sitting on the floor. He was surrounded by five gunmen, their faces covered by scarves. The U.S. Army soldier identified himself as "Pfc. Keith Matthew Maupin."
Maupin joined the Army Reserves to help pay for college. His mother, Carolyn, headed a local support group for military moms. A brother had just completed his Marine basic training.
I am married with a 10-month-old child,” said the man, who frequently looked down, as if reading words on a piece of paper. “I came to liberate Iraq, but I did not come willingly because I wanted to stay with my child.”
Sgt. Elmer C. Krause, 40, of Greensboro, N.C., and Pfc. Keith "Matt" Maupin, 20, of Batavia, Ohio, were previously identified and noted as DUTY STATUS WHERE-A-BOUTS UNKNOWN.
Fox News reported Maupin was known in high school for his tenacity on the football field and in the classroom, friends and family said.
CNN reported Maupin, 20, graduated three years ago from Glen Este High School in Cincinnati, Ohio. The school issued a statement calling him a "great kid" and "an excellent student" who won the Scholar Athlete Award for maintaining a 3.5 GPA while playing football.
"We're pulling for him. He's a fighter," Dan Simmons, athletic director at Glen Este High School the Fox News article said.
"Matt was a selfless kid on the football field," Simmons said. "He did whatever the coaches told him. He wasn't a starter, but he made the other kids play harder
CNN reported that the family spokesman said "We have viewed the videotape of Matt, as all of you have, I'm sure, and our family is very happy and prays for Matt's safety," spokesman Carl Cottrell said, reading a statement from Maupin's family.
"To show your belief in his safe return, we ask the community of Batavia as well as surrounding communities and across the nation to tie yellow ribbons in Matt's honor 'till he safely returns home, so that when he does return home, he'll see the support that we've seen over the course of these last five days."
============
On May 1, Maupin was promoted in absentia to specialist by his commander at the 724th Transportation Company, said Maj. Willie Harris, a spokesman for the 88th Regional Readiness Command, which oversees Maupin's Army Reserve unit based in Bartonville, Ill.
Prayer vigils continue in his hometown. Yellow ribbons fly across the U.S. waiting for his return.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3018664&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
Ohio Soldier Missing in Iraq for 3 Years
Ohio Parents of Missing Soldier in Iraq Persevere With 3-Year Anniversary on Monday
By TERRY KINNEY
The Associated Press
BATAVIA, Ohio - Yellow ribbons across Sgt. Matt Maupin's hometown are constant reminders. Fundraising events in his honor draw overflow crowds. Soldiers back home relay details of the ongoing search for him in Iraq.
These are the signs of support and hope that keep Maupin's parents going three years after he was captured in an insurgent attack on his Army convoy.
Keith Maupin said he took comfort hearing from the father of a military interrogator in Iraq who said detainees are asked if they know anything about his missing son.
"He said, 'These guys are not going to give up on Matt. Their mission is to stay focused on finding Matt and get all the information they can out of these detainees,'" Keith Maupin said. "That made me feel good."
The Army won't confirm that detainees are questioned about Maupin.
"We don't talk about what we are or aren't doing," Lt. Col. Bob Tallman said. "We don't want to alert the enemy, who may do something to the individual or move him."
Sgt. Keith Matthew Maupin was always called Matt by his parents, since his father was named Keith. He was a 20-year-old private first class when he was captured April 9, 2004, when his fuel convoy, part of the 724th Transportation Company, was ambushed west of Baghdad.
A week later, the Arab television network Al-Jazeera aired a videotape showing Maupin sitting on the floor surrounded by five masked men holding automatic rifles.
That June, Al-Jazeera aired another tape purporting to show a U.S. soldier being shot. But the dark and grainy tape showed only the back of the victim's head and not the actual shooting.
The Maupins refuse to believe it was their son, and the Army continues to list him as missing/captured, Tallman said.
More than 1,000 people are expected at a banquet fundraiser Monday, the third anniversary of Maupin's capture. Some 700 bikers are expected the following Saturday for a motorcycle ride sponsored by Rolling Thunder, a POW-MIA awareness group. A youth baseball tournament in May drew more entries than it could handle, even though games will be played on several fields.
All are raising money for the Matt Maupin Scholarship Fund, seed money for scholarships given by the high schools attended by Cincinnati-area soldiers who died in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Keith Maupin has lost track of the number of briefings he and his former wife, Carolyn, have received from the Pentagon. They've been persistent and he thinks the Army is doing its best to find his son.
It doesn't hurt that the Maupins have met with President Bush and that White House Budget Director Rob Portman used to represent the Maupins' district in Congress.
"When you can get on the phone and call a three-star general, and he can call Iraq to find out what's going on, I don't know how much more they can do for me," Keith Maupin said.
Portman's successor, Republican Rep. Jean Schmidt, said she's been assured that the Army is still aggressively looking for Matt.
"There is as much evidence to point toward him being alive as otherwise," she said.
As long as the Maupins keep Matt's name alive, he is alive, they reason.
There's a yellow ribbon on every parking meter in Batavia, a close-knit, county-seat community east of Cincinnati.
"We won't let people forget," Clermont County Commissioner Bob Proud said. "Whenever we see yellow ribbons, we think about Matt and all our warriors. It always reminds me of the sacrifice that Matt and all of our troops have made."
Keith Maupin now works full time with the Yellow Ribbon Support Center, which Carolyn founded before their son was captured. Carolyn and Keith Maupin, though divorced, have united in their effort to be a touchstone for families who have lost loved ones in the war.
"A lot of people come in here and a lot of people call, and they just want to talk," Keith Maupin said. "That's OK by me; that's what we're here for."
The center has sent thousands of packages of snacks, toiletries, sun block, bug spray, games and other things to soldiers in Iraq, putting photos of Matt Maupin in every box. The center helped troops obtain donated computers to send and receive e-mail.
Keith Maupin finds some solace at the Yellow Ribbon Support Center, where he is surrounded by photos, paintings and posters of his son.
"I look at him all the time," he said. "This is about as close as I can get."
On the Net: Yellow Ribbon Support Center: http://www.yellowribbonsupportcenter.com
Military Unveils New Effort To Find Missing Soldier
LAST UPDATE: 10/12/2006 5:23:20 PM
A new push by the Army to find Sergeant Matt Maupin has resulted in a paid advertisement that appeared on Iraqi television. A military official, close to the project, told Local 12 the ad produced no new leads during its run. That official also expressed doubts that Matt Maupin is alive. We want to make it clear, this military official requested his name be withheld as part of our report. Local 12 Reporter Paul Adler spent several weeks researching this developing story.
Tonight he shows us the ad, and explains why Matt Maupin is just part of it. You may not understand the spoken words, but here's the translation.
"Help heal the pain of these separated families."
The ad is a plea to find Matt Maupin, but you don't see him until 15 seconds after the start. His parents don't appear for another 20 seconds.
Carolyn Maupin: "I feel you must ask if there are other people missing. Their families are waiting just like we are, so why not put them all there and maybe somebody will have a lead on one."
Keith Maupin: "I think that was geared to the moms, the women."
An official in Iraq, close to the production of the ad, told us the men who attacked Matt's convoy are hard core opponents, very little will get them to talk. The military official told us the ad focused on Iraqis because, he says, the majority of Iraqis don't care what happens to Americans.
Carolyn Maupin: "I'm just hoping and praying there's someone over there that's a little bit different than that. Maybe they feel a little bit differently, believe a little differently."
Our source told us the ad produced no new leads. He went on to say it's decreasingly likely that we'll elicit information on Matt's location and increasingly likely he's dead or deceased. As you might expect, those are fighting words for Army officials who speak on the record, and they're fighting words for Matt's parents, too.
Keith Maupin: "I'm saying it ain't over till the fat lady sings and when she sings, I'm going to choke her. That's what I say. They're going to find Matt."
Carolyn Maupin: "We're to keep our hope up. And praying until they can prove to us 100 percent either way. And that's what I'm going to do. And I realize we only have a 50/50 chance here, but I'm not going the low road. I'm going the high road."
The Army's official stance is we're committed to tracking all leads. The goal is to return Staff Sergeant Matt Maupin. We have no substantiated evidence he's deceased.
"I'm Keith Matthew Maupin."
While others express doubts, Matt's parents expect no less than a safe return.
Keith Maupin: Just bring Matt home. That's all I ask from you."
Paul Adler Local 12.
Ceremony to honor missing soldier
The Army's only soldier currently missing in action in Iraq will be promoted Sunday at the Fort Snelling Veterans Memorial Chapel.
Last update: September 15, 2006 – 11:38 PM
The Army's only soldier currently missing in action in Iraq will be promoted Sunday at the Fort Snelling Veterans Memorial Chapel.
Sgt. Keith (Matt) Maupin, of Batavia, Ohio, will be promoted to the rank of staff sergeant during a ceremony that will be part of the chapel's POW/MIA Remembrance Service.
Maupin is a member of the 724th Transportation Company, which is attached to the Fort Snelling-based 88th Regional Readiness Command.
On April 9, 2004, Maupin was in a convoy operating outside Baghdad when it was attacked by insurgents. Nine Americans, seven of them private contractors, were captured. All but Maupin were killed or later escaped.
Days after the ambush, Maupin appeared in a video that showed him sitting on the ground in front of armed men. Nearly three months after the ambush, Al-Jazeera television reported that militants had killed Maupin, saying it had received a video showing him being shot in the back of the head.
At the time, the Army said the man in the video could not be clearly identified. The Army reported this week that the search for Maupin continues.
Sunday's 11 a.m. service is open to the public.
BOB VON STERNBERG
August 08, 2006
Soldier missing in Iraq promoted
By Michelle Tan
Staff writer
Keith “Matt” Maupin, the only soldier listed as captured in Iraq, has been promoted to staff sergeant, the Army announced Tuesday. Maupin, of the Army Reserve’s 724th Transportation Company in Bartonville, Ill., went missing April 9, 2004, when insurgents attacked his convoy using rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire.
Two soldiers and six American civilian truck drivers were killed in the attack outside Baghdad.
Maupin was a private first class when he was captured. His 23rd birthday was July 13.
The Army, in announcing Maupin’s promotion, said it is “unwavering” in its commitment to find Maupin.
Until he is found, Maupin remains on active-duty status with all rights and privileges for pay and promotions, the Army said.
Maupins Get Unexpected Gift From Iraq
Reported by: 9News
Web produced by: Mark Sickmiller
Photographed by: 9News
First posted: 6/30/2006 4:31:55 PM
The parents of captured Union Township soldier Matt Maupin received an unexpected gift in the mail this week.
Marines from the 1st Battalion, 25th Division mailed them an American flag and a POW/MIA flag.
Both flags were flown at their military base in Fallujah back in May.
The package also included a certificate saying they have not stopped searching for Matt.
"When you look at the certificate that says they'll never stop looking, that makes you know they know who Matt is and they will keep looking for him until they find him," said Keith Maupin.
The flags will be flown next Saturday, July 8, at the dedication for the new Matt Maupin garden located at Glen Este High.
Lone U.S. soldier remains missing
http://www.vvof.org/keith.htm
By Joyce Howard Price
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20060403-125558-2820r.htm
April 3, 2006
Sunday will mark the second anniversary of the capture near Baghdad of Army Reserve Sgt. Keith Matthew "Matt" Maupin of Batavia, Ohio, the only U.S. soldier not accounted for in the three years of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
While more than 2,300 U.S. service members have been killed in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion and more than 17,000 have been wounded, Sgt. Maupin is the only one officially listed as "missing/captured" and his whereabouts unknown.
The sergeant's parents, Keith and Carolyn Maupin, think their son is still alive, even though the Arabic-language TV network Al Jazeera, reported June 28, 2004, that he had been executed. The Pentagon says it does not know whether Sgt. Maupin is dead or alive, calling a dark and grainy video it obtained that purports to show the sergeant being shot in the back of the head "inconclusive."
Military officials say they don't know if the shooting victim was Sgt. Maupin, since the man in the tape is blindfolded and his face is not shown. Some Army officers have suggested that the gunmen in the video shot a dummy.
"We don't want them to quit looking for Matt. He hasn't been found yet, so they are not doing all they can do. I know if they did more, they'd find him," Mr. Maupin said in a telephone interview.
He added he is grateful for the calls and e-mails he receives once each week from an Army casualty assistance officer. The message is always the same, Mr. Maupin said: "The status of Matt is unchanged, and he's still listed as captured." But he said the officials do their best to answer all his questions.
"The Maupins have been very cooperative and very patient," said Shari Lawrence, deputy public affairs officer for the U.S. Army Human Resources Command. "Matt represents the soldiers and families of all those who have not come home. We make a promise we will do everything to find them, and we're constantly on the lookout" for Sgt. Maupin.
Mr. Maupin said he was encouraged by the release Thursday of Jill Carroll, a freelance reporter for the Christian Science Monitor, who was kidnapped in Iraq nearly four months earlier. He said he hopes that positive development leads to more intense efforts to find his son.
Roger Hall, a Silver Spring man who has been involved in prisoner of war issues since 1993 and who keeps in touch with the Maupin family, shares that hope. He worries that the press and many Americans seem to have forgotten the plight of Sgt. Maupin, and that frightens him, since many are saying the unrelenting attention that focused on Miss Carroll may have saved her life and led to her release.
Mr. Hall says he would also like to locate any persons or groups that may have been involved in negotiations for Miss Carroll's release to see if they might help find Sgt. Maupin.
Mr. Maupin is active in a Cincinnati-based organization called the Yellow Ribbon Support Center that's all about remembering his missing son and other heroes of Operation Iraqi Freedom from the Cincinnati area. On Sunday, the group will hold a fundraiser called "Let Us Never Forget," with a goal to raise $100,000 in scholarships to honor local soldiers.
Mr. Maupin says he has examined still images the Army made from the shooting tape that aired on Al Jazeera and could not determine whether the man's jaw he saw on the clearest picture was his son's.
"You can't tell anything from that video. The Army tried to enhance it for three months, but did not succeed," so the images also are not distinct, he said.
Sgt. Maupin was a 20-year-old private first class in the Army Reserve's 724th Transportation Company when a fuel truck convoy that his company was guarding was ambushed on April 9, 2004, by Iraqi insurgents near the Baghdad airport.
Five drivers were killed in the attack. Sgt. Maupin, who was riding shotgun on one of the trucks, was taken captive, along with two other Americans in the convoy. Then-Pvt. Maupin became a sergeant with two promotions that have occurred in absentia since his kidnapping.
On April 16, Sgt. Maupin and the two other U.S. hostages appeared in a video on Al Jazeera and identified themselves. Seven days later, Sgt. Elmer Krause, 40, of Greensboro, N.C., was found slain. Hostage Thomas Hamill, a civilian contractor from Macon, Miss., escaped from his captors May 2 and was recovered by U.S. forces near Tikrit.
Miss Lawrence of the Army's Human Resources Command said that agency has one year and a day after an incident like the convoy ambush to review a missing soldier's file to determine whether to change his classification. Sgt. Maupin, she said, "has never come out of the status of 'missing/captured,' " since no body has been found and no other "hard evidence" warrants a change.
"I know they are looking for Matt," said his father. He said he saw a report that British military personnel, as well as investigators from the Army and Marines, were looking for his son's possible burial site somewhere in the Iraqi desert about a week ago. They were following up a tip, but didn't find a grave, Mr. Maupin said.
"We can't make them find Matt. But I'm confident that when my son's job is done, he'll be home," he said.
http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051114/LIFE/511140349/1005
Remembering one Ohio soldier
Site-seeing with Jan Perry
While I was exploring some of the troop tribute sites for Friday's Veterans Day column, I was overwhelmed by the number of heartfelt pages of prayers and well wishes for Keith "Matt" Maupin and sympathy and support for his family. I would like to share some of them with you today.
But as I do this, please understand that it is only the tragic uncertainty of Matt's situation that makes his plight and these sites worthy of attention above and beyond those for all the sons, daughters, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, friends and acquaintances currently serving in America's armed forces and deployed in zones of conflict. The fact that Matt's family has been so unselfish in their good works and good words on behalf of other members of the military stands as a testament to all those who are serving.
If you live anywhere in Greater Cincinnati and have a page or tribute site online, please send the details to me. I promise to include every one in a future column.
www.clermontyellowribbon.com/messages14.htm. In this case, I think I'll let the Net speak for itself: "This site is dedicated to all the men and women of Clermont County, Ohio, and across the nation who have served and are still serving their country, not only in Iraq, but all other foreign and domestic lands. Here, you can dedicate a yellow ribbon message to those men and women." A special section is dedicated to Matt and his family.
www.wcpo.com/specials/2004/maupin. WCPO-TV (Channel 9) continues to add to its pages dedicated to the missing Batavia man. In addition to its own stories and news clips about Maupin, 1,845 individuals have posted words of encouragement to the Maupin family. It is touching to see the widespread concern shown not only for Matt but for his family and friends as well.
www.724transco.citymax.com/page/page/2304854.htm. Created by the 724th Transportation Company of Bartonville, Ill., this site pays tribute to all of our armed forces but particularly Maupin (there is an entire section of stories updated through the beginning of November and a photo page) along with Spc. Gregory Goodrich and Sgt. Elmer Krause, who were killed in the convoy ambush in April 2004.
www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1515845/posts. Posted by Lady-Shallott on Nov. 4, this is a daily prayer thread and holiday remembrance site for Maupin. In addition to reading and adding to the chain of positive thoughts, you can read a brief biography about the captured army reservist.
www.iwvpa.net/sharikca/a_poem_f.htm. This is a poem dedicated to Matt. It was written by Christina A. Sharik and appears on the International War Veterans' Poetry Archives site, which includes "writings about war and its consequences by veterans, their families, friends and supporters." All the works included here are honest and heartfelt.
http://leavenonebehind.blogspot.com. This blogging site has a tribute page for Maupin and Capt. Scott Speicher from Operation Desert Storm.
www.area417.com/area_417/2005/11/sergeant_matt_m.html. In addition to a plea to keep Matt Maupin in our minds, the Area 417 site includes a lot of personal feelings about the military and many links to organizations dedicated to the support of military families.
www.blackfive.net/main/2005/09/sergeant_matt_m.html. You'll find some warm notes and letters for Matt and the Maupin family here.
www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,124089,00.html. Fox News Online continues to post information about Maupin.
www.pownetwork.org/gulfII/maupin.htm. This site urges the government (as well as individual American citizens) to continue the vigil for Maupin until his fate is an absolute certainty. Suggesting we all maintain hope for his long-awaited safe return, the page includes several stories pulled from the many press clippings and media pieces about the missing soldier.
Jan Perry is a Kentucky-based freelance writer for The Post. She welcomes your e-mail at SiteSeer2K@aol.com. Using the phrase "about your column" in the subject line of your e-mail will help get it past the spam filters and ensure prompt delivery.
Publication date: 11-14-2005
Army Promotes Missing Ohio Soldier To Sergeant
Maupin Missing Since Last April
POSTED: 5:33 pm EDT April 4, 2005
BATAVIA, Ohio -- The only soldier the U.S. Army lists as captured in Iraq has been promoted to sergeant, his second promotion since he was abducted last year, the Army said Monday.
The promotion of reservist Keith M. "Matt" Maupin was effective last Friday, said Maj. Elizabeth Robbins, an Army spokeswoman at the Pentagon. Maupin was promoted from private first class to specialist after his disappearance.
He has been missing since last April 9 when his fuel truck convoy was ambushed by insurgents west of Baghdad.
A board with the 724th Transportation Company, Maupin's unit based in Bartonville, Ill., promoted him.
Though the Army does not know where Maupin is, he is presumed to be serving honorably, Robbins said. Maupin received a waiver of a requirement that normally would have required him to have served longer before becoming eligible for a promotion.
A message seeking comment was left Monday at the suburban Cincinnati home of Carolyn Maupin, the soldier's mother.
A three-member Army board of inquiry is to meet Wednesday in Alexandria, Va., for a routine annual review of his status, Robbins said. The Army had said last week that the board would meet this coming Saturday -- the anniversary of Maupin's abduction in Iraq -- but the meeting has been moved up, Robbins said.
The board's decision is not expected to be announced until next week, she said.
Maupin, 21, is known to have been captured alive. A week after he disappeared, Arab television network Al-Jazeera released a videotape showing him sitting on the floor surrounded by five masked men holding automatic rifles.
Since then, there's been nothing identifiable. A dark, grainy video Al-Jazeera released in June showed a blindfolded man in fatigues, sitting on the ground. Al-Jazeera said it did not broadcast a scene from the videotape in which the blindfolded man was shot.
U.S. military experts examined the tape but called it inconclusive. Citing security concerns, Army officials won't disclose what they are doing to find him.
=======================================
Missing soldier's family refuses to give up
Monday, April 4, 2005
Missing soldier's family refuses to give up
Army may classify him as deceased
By Michael A. Lindenberger
The Courier-Journal
BATAVIA, Ohio -- Each morning before she leaves for work, Carolyn Maupin says a prayer that someone will find or rescue her son Matt, the only American soldier classified as a captive in Iraq. Now she has another wish -- that the Army will continue to believe he is alive.
On Wednesday, almost exactly a year after Spc. Matt Maupin disappeared, the Army is scheduled to convene a panel to decide whether he should remain classified as a captive or be considered dead.
"We don't want him to be forgotten," Carolyn Maupin said in a recent interview. "I am just afraid that if they move on, then what will we say when he shows up alive and we aren't there waiting for him?"
Top Army officials said Maupin has not been forgotten.
"We continue to look for Spc. Maupin, but we cannot provide any further details about those efforts," said Lt. Col. Pamela Hart, an Army spokeswoman.
Still, the law requires the Army to re-examine his case after a year, and a panel of officers will meet in Washington to review evidence linked to Maupin's disappearance. They will decide whether to reclassify him as "deceased, body not recovered."
He would join 1,535 other soldiers who have died in the war in Iraq.
Shari Lawrence, deputy public affairs officer for the U.S. Army Human Resources Command, said that even if the Army decides Maupin is dead, it remains committed to the search for clues to his fate. "They will still be following any leads they might have," she said. "Our (intelligence) guys are doing a lot of things to still look for him."
Maupin, who joined the Reserve in 2003 after running out of money for college, is the only U.S. soldier in Iraq who is unaccounted for.
He was captured last year on April 9 after a fierce firefight with Iraqi insurgents that killed two other soldiers from his platoon. He was later shown as a hostage in a video initially broadcast on an Arabic-language news channel.
Since then, thousands of well-wishers have written or called his family.
In February, when the 724th Transportation Company out of Bartonville, Ill., his Reserve unit, came home, it did so without Maupin. That doesn't mean the Army will give up on him in Wednesday's meeting, said Sgt. Mike Bailey, 49, a member of the unit who said he got to know Maupin fairly well.
"I am an old Ranger, and we don't leave a soldier behind," Bailey said. "I don't think the Army will, either."
'I won't give up on my son'
If the Army decides that Maupin is dead, it may be in part because of a second video that was shown on Arab television in June. That video purports to be footage of Maupin's execution, and it shows a uniformed figure with his back to the camera fall into a shallow grave.
Matt's parents said they immediately thought the grainy and poorly lit video was fake.
"It just doesn't look like Matt," Carolyn Maupin said. "In my heart, I just knew it wasn't him. I still believe he is alive and out there somewhere."
Bailey said he also is convinced the video is not the young man he got to know in Iraq.
"No, it don't (look like Matt)," Bailey said. "He was a very muscular person and looks very different."
Two of Maupin's friends, Brian Parnes and Rob Lindley, said video or no video, the Army should keep looking for their buddy. Lindley said the figure in the video looks a lot like Maupin. "But unless they prove it to me, I am just going to believe he's alive," he said. "If he's out there somewhere in some sandbox or hole and we forget him -- well, I am not going to do that." Parnes, who like Lindley has been friends with Maupin since sixth grade, said he thinks the video is so inconclusive that the Army would have to keep his status unchanged.
Maupin's mother said it would take much more than the Army's word to convince her to give up hope that he will return. "Until they can show me his body, and prove to me it is him, I won't give up on my son," Carolyn Maupin said. "I am not going to simply accept a line on a piece of paper that says he is gone. They have to prove it to me."
'Something wasn't right'
Bailey, a former member of the Fort Campbell-based 101st Airborne Division, said he woke early on the morning of April 9 with a feeling that something was wrong.
"I was standing outside my trailer with a cup of coffee in my hand, watching the boys from Matt's platoon head to the motor pool," Bailey said. "But I had a bad, hard feeling -- I knew something wasn't right."
Bailey said both men in his platoon who would be killed later also stopped to say good morning. "Then, here comes Matt, with his big smile on his face. I said, 'You ready for this?' He just looked back and said, 'I guess so, Sgt. Bailey.' I told him, 'Stay alert and watch yourself out there today.' "
"Matt stuck out," Bailey said. "It's hard to put it all in words. But he really stuck out. He was physically fit, and he listened to what us old guys had to say."
Maupin's father said Matt wrote to say he didn't like being in Iraq -- it was too hot and too far from home. But he was determined to serve admirably, Keith Maupin recalled.
"He was there to do a job, and he was going to do it," Keith Maupin said.
What happened
Bailey said the orders for the day weren't unusual -- both Maupin's platoon and his own were to escort a convoy of civilian contractors along a road used as a supply line.
Maupin's platoon moved out about 7 a.m., and Bailey was readying to go with his own platoon on a second escort mission.
But before Bailey left, he heard over the radio that Maupin's unit had been ordered to change routes. That's when he knew something was wrong.
"You can ask the four men standing next to me at the time. I radioed the lieutenant and said, 'Don't go, (lieutenant). Something isn't right,' " Bailey said.
Soon after, Bailey's platoon was told to stay put, he said, convincing the men standing near him that something had gone wrong. Later he learned that Maupin's platoon had "encountered bad resistance."
They were told one soldier, Spc. Gregory Goodrich, was killed, and that others were missing, he said. The toll would grow to two dead soldiers when Sgt. Elmer Krause's body was found shortly afterward. In addition, six civilian employees of KBR, a Halliburton subsidiary, were killed and two were captured. One of those captured, 43-year-old truck driver Thomas Hamill of Mississippi, escaped a month later and was found by U.S. troops. The other, Tim Bell, is still missing, a company spokeswoman said.
A week later, on April 16, the first videotape was aired. Back home, Lindley and Parnes saw it.
Maupin "looked like he always does when he was in trouble. He was definitely scared but at the same time he didn't want to show anything," Lindley said.
'I don't want to just manage'
Carolyn Maupin said her son's decision to join the military seemed sudden.
He had transferred to a community college after a year at the main University of Cincinnati campus, and he was doing well, she said. But one day he came home and said he had joined the Army Reserve. "I was very concerned, especially with everything that was going on," she said. "But he said he did it to earn some money for college. I told him, 'Matt, we can manage college without this.' He looked at me and said, 'Mom, I don't want to just manage.'
"
Keith Maupin, a Marine Corps veteran, said his son did not discuss his decision with him, either.
Maupin's younger brother, Micah, would later join the Marines, and the 18-year-old is stationed in California. 'Are we doing enough?'
Lindley said he is not surprised Maupin's disappearance has drawn so much attention and so many well-wishers.
"Matt gave a face to the war," he said. "You can see him there in that video, you can empathize with him. He could be anybody's son, anybody's best friend."
Carolyn Maupin said she's going to keep praying for her son's return, even if the Army decides he is dead. In the meantime, she said, she hopes that everything possible is being done to find him.
"We are over here, and he is over there," she said. "I can't help but ask myself, 'Is what we are doing enough? Is it ever going to be enough for a parent, or parents, whose son is missing?' "
==================================
New Details Surface In Matt Maupin Case
New details in Matt Maupin case in LA Times report
(WCPO/WCPO.com)
Reported by: 9News
Web produced by: Neil Relyea
Photographed by: 9News
3/28/2005 10:25:33 PM
A 280-page report US Army report obtained by the Los Angeles Times reportedly describes a series of errors and miscommunications that led up to the April 9, 2004 attack on Specialist Matt Maupin's convoy.
Maupin was traveling in a 26-vehicle convoy, escorting Haliburton contractors as they hauled jet fuel across one of the most dangerous roads in Iraq.
According to the LA Times, poor communication sent the men into an active battlefield.
A US soldier who approved the route allegedly changed his mind minutes later and sent an e-mail advising the road was closed.
However, he accidentally sent the e-mail to himself and it never reached the convoy.
Also according to the LA Times, the report states Haliburton let its men drive unarmored military vehicles, making them appear as a military target.
=========================
Nation - From the Feb. 21, 2005 issue of TIME magazine What Happened To Matt Maupin?
A HOMETOWN WAITS FOR THE ONLY AMERICAN G.I. UNACCOUNTED FOR IN THE WAR, SNATCHED BY INSURGENTS 10 MONTHS AGO
By MARK THOMPSON
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1027512,00.html
...... One member of the 160-strong company, however, will be conspicuously absent. He is Keith (Matt) Maupin, the only American soldier who is unaccounted for in Iraq. Ten months ago, insurgents ambushed a convoy guarded by the 724th and took Private First Class Maupin, then 20, captive. There have been conflicting reports on his fate. He was seen alive on one videotape, reported killed on another. Without proof of his death, the Army presumes he is still alive. His family fervently prays that is so. The months have ticked by, and Maupin has been promoted to the rank of specialist and turned 21. While most of the country may have forgotten about him since news of his capture made headlines and his bewildered face under a floppy hat was flashed across America's television screens, his hometown has not.......
==========================
Friday, July 2, 2004
Bush phones to bolster Maupins
President pledges 'unwavering support' for soldier's family
By Howard Wilkinson
Enquirer staff writer
President Bush spoke to the family of Spc. Keith "Matt" Maupin by phone Wednesday, assuring them once again that everything possible would be done to bring the 20-year-old Army reservist home alive, an Army spokesman said Thursday.
Bush's phone call came only a few hours after Maupin's parents, Carolyn and Keith Maupin, met privately with Pentagon officials for a briefing on efforts to find and rescue Maupin, who was captured April 9 while driving a truck in a fuel convoy that was attacked by Iraqi militants.
"He pledged his unwavering support to the Maupin family," said Maj. Mark Magalski, the Army casualty assistance officer who has been working closely with the Maupin family for 2 1/2 months.
At a noon press conference Thursday in the parking lot of Willowville Elementary School in Union Township, only a few hundred yards from the Maupin home, Magalski and Maj. Willie Harris, public affairs officer of the 88th Regional Readiness Command, said there is still no evidence to suggest that Maupin was the person seen on Al-Jazeera television being shot in the back of the head in a dark, grainy video.
"Matt Maupin's status remains the same - captured, whereabouts unknown," said Harris.....
===========================
July 29, 2004
Family waits for news of soldier
By Charles Hurt
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The Ohio family of captured Army Reserve Spc. Keith Maupin prayed yesterday that news of his execution was untrue.
Arab network Al Jazeera reported this week that Spc. Maupin was fatally shot in the back of the head after nearly three months of captivity, but U.S. Army officials declined to confirm the death since they have only a grainy execution video and no body.
Meanwhile, a prisoner-of-war group condemned the Pentagon for classifying the 20-year-old reservist as "missing-captured" as opposed to "prisoner of war."
"It's an insult to every man and woman serving in the military," said Lynn O'Shea, research director of the National Alliance of POW/MIA Families. "Why diminish the status of the captives?"
Specifically, Ms. O'Shea said, POW status requires that captives be treated in accord with rules set by the Geneva Conventions, which do not mention "missing-captured" status by name.
Granted, she added, the Iraq-based terrorists capturing and slaughtering people on camera don't seem too concerned about the Geneva Conventions or any other international laws, but it gives a certain standing.
"You don't even have the moral grounds to say that this is a prisoner of war, and he must be treated according to the Geneva Convention," she said.
Shari Lawrence, deputy public affairs officer of the Army Human Rights Command, said it was a simple matter of following the established guidelines for classifying captured service members.
"To be a prisoner of war, you have to be held by a recognized government," she said, which has not been the case with Spc. Maupin and many other American soldiers captured during the war in Iraq.
The issue of Spc. Maupin's status arose earlier this month after a POW group sent the Maupin family a box of POW/MIA bracelets for the Maupins and others to wear as a constant reminder of Spc. Maupin's captivity.
On June 6, the Army officer assisting the Maupin family responded with an e-mail.
"I gave [the bracelets] to the Maupin family, and they were very appreciative of the gift," the Army major wrote. "However, technically [Spc. Maupin] is not classified as a POW. His status remains 'captured.' "
He went on to say the "Maupin family is reluctant to wear the bracelets" because they "just don't want to offend anyone, especially family members of past POW/MIAs."
It stirs up a sensitive debate among POW groups, who accuse the Pentagon of trying to eliminate the status entirely. Ms. Lawrence said this is simply not the case.
But, she said, she understands that "it's a very emotional issue."
"I think sometimes people think that if they're not listed as POW, then they're not remembered or carried in the same status," Ms. Lawrence said. "That's not true. They are carried in the same status."
Ms. O'Shea said the classification also matters in terms of keeping the plight of captured soldiers at the front of Americans' minds.
"If you say someone is 'missing-captured,' it's an oxymoron. What does that mean? You can't be both. It's a question mark," she said. " 'Prisoner of war,' though, paints a picture. You have absolutely no question about his status."
===================================
JUNE 28, 2004
Iraq
Sources: Missing Soldier May Be Shot
There are unconfirmed reports that an Ohio hostage in Iraq has been shot.
Private Keith Matt Maupin was captured in April when gunmen armed with rocket propelled grenades attacked his convoy.
Two sources, a Cincinnati TV station and an Arabic Web site, both cites sources close to the Maupin family as saying that the Al Jazeera TV network has a videotape of Maupin being shot.
Stay tuned to WBNS-10TV and 10TV.com for more information.
=====================================
Maupin focus of holiday prayers
Cincinatti Post
Memorial Day 2004
By Courtney Kinney
Post staff reporter
For a few moments Monday, people in a small crowd at the corner of Central Parkway and Vine Street downtown were not thinking about the Taste of Cincinnati Festival going on behind them.
Instead, the 100 or so people focused on Memorial Day and one soldier in particular -- Army Spc. Matt Maupin, the 20-year-old Clermont County man who is the only U.S. soldier being held captive in Iraq.
Maupin's family sat on a stage downtown, the featured guests at a Memorial Day ceremony to honor fallen soldiers.
Speaking in public for the first time since his son was captured in Iraq April 9, Keith Maupin asked the crowd to pray for his son and for all soldiers.
"They are our true heroes and deserve to be remembered as much," Keith Maupin said, reading from a prepared statement.
Matt Maupin, a 2001 graduate of Glen Este High School and member of the 724th Transportation Co., was part of a convoy that was attacked outside Baghdad almost two months ago. A week after the attack, the Al-Jazeera Arab television station aired footage showing Maupin apparently unarmed and surrounded by masked gunmen. Keith Maupin said it has been some time since the family has heard word about Matt.
"We are still hopeful that he will return to us soon," Keith Maupin said.
The ceremony, which lasted about a half hour, was kicked off by a short parade on Central Parkway. A color guard including members from all four branches of the military was led by two Cincinnati Police officers on motorcycle and followed by the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office bagpipe and drum corps playing "God Bless America."
Dale Menkhaus, chairman of Taste of Cincinnati, read opening statements, telling the crowd it was appropriate to stop for a moment and reflect on those who have fallen.
"It's most important today that we thank the families that have grieved and agonized," Menkhaus said.
After Keith Maupin spoke, the bag pipe and drum corps played "Amazing Grace," prompting several members of the somber crowd to dab at their eyes. One of those touched by the ceremony, Marleen Scheid, of Delhi Township, said she had been following the Maupin story and felt for the family.
"They have to be going through hell," Scheid said.
Scheid and her husband, Larry, wore matching red "America" T-shirts and carried small American flags. She said they came downtown primarily to celebrate Memorial Day, but would stick around for Taste of Cincinnati.
"We're just patriotic," she said. "We were looking for a parade or ceremony or something and saw this one in the paper. And it looked like the best."
Keith and Carolyn Maupin, Matt's parents, didn't talk beyond the prepared statement read by Keith. After the ceremony, they walked to the tent housing an organization dedicated to supporting U.S. troops. There stood a large, wooden yellow ribbon -- the symbol of support for U.S. soldiers and locally, for Matt Maupin -- covered in written messages from anyone passing by who wanted to sign.
Both Carolyn and Keith Maupin wrote messages.
"To all troops, thank you," Carolyn Maupin wrote. And Keith Maupin wrote: "Godspeed your return."
For Immediate Release:
Two Men, Two Wars, Same Fate ~ Missing/Captured in Iraq
Jacksonville, Florida - January 17, 2005 - Friends Working to Free Scott Speicher will host a prayer/candle vigil at Lake Shore United Methodist Church at 7:30 pm. The plight of two men, who have never met will bring together their friends and family members to discuss the one thing they have in common. The two men are United States Navy Pilot, Captain Michael Scott Speicher and Army Specialist Keith "Matt" Maupin. The common denominator between these two men is their status of Missing in Action/Captured in Iraq and their supporter's efforts to keep that status unchanged until they are found. The idea is to have this message heard across the nation while at the same time honoring Captain Speicher and the anniversary of his capture. January 17, 2005, marks the fourteenth year since Speicher originally went missing in Iraq. Matt Maupin has been missing now for nine months. Keith and Carolyn Maupin will be speaking at the church to honor their son, Matt Maupin's senior counterpart, Scott Speicher. By showing the two missing service members mirrored side by side, it is hoped by the Maupin family that this will help their son's case avoid the many missteps, which have been made in the Speicher case. In contrast, Maupin's more recent capture will help to shine new light on the Speicher case, bringing public awareness to a hero that has yet to be returned home after fourteen years. Other guest speakers will participate.
Speakers will include: Bob Gandt, renowned author of military fiction including, Bogeys and Bandits, and Shadows of War, which is loosely based on Scott Speicher. Mr. Gandt also worked as writer and technical consultant for the popular TV series Pensacola:Wings of Gold. Longtime Friends Working to Free Scott Speicher member and current Delta Airlines pilot, Tim Goings. Mr. Goings piloted Apache Helicopters in the First Gulf War. POW advocate Ed Burge will speak as well as bring for viewing a special limited edition motorcycle dedicated to POW/MIA's including Captain Speicher. Former POW from Operation Iraqi Freedom, Chief Warrant Officer Ronald Young, Jr and many of Speicher's close friends.
Then LCDR Speicher was pronounced dead by Secretary of State Richard Cheney, the day after his plane was lost, January 18, 1991, with no search and rescue mission ever launched. On January 11, 2001, in light of new evidence that indicated Speicher safely ejected and with remains of his plane and canopy in tact, President Bill Clinton and the United States Navy, took the unprecedented action of changing now Captain Speicher from KIA to MIA. On October 11, 2002 the United States Navy changed Speicher's status once again to Missing/Captured, stating, " There is no evidence that Captain Speicher is dead." Since the current war in Iraq began, the initials MSS have been found all over parts of Iraq, including in a cell in Hakmiyah Prison and a carport beam at another detention center. Scott Speicher's name was also found written in an Iraqi prison log book, dated just before the war began.
On April 9, 2004, PFC Matt Maupin's convoy is attacked west of Baghdad. April 13, 2004, Maupin is listed as missing. A videotape of Maupin surrounded by five hooded men airs on Al - Jazeera TV, April 16, 2004, confirming that Maupin has indeed been captured. May 1, 2004, the Army promotes Maupin to Specialist. One month later in June of 2004, another videotape surfaces of a man Al - Jazeera claims as Maupin. The man in the video is shown being shot twice in the head and back. July 1, 2004, Brig. Gen. Michael W. Beasley, states that, " There is no bad information, no negative information with regard to Specialist Maupin that is known now. We are continuing full effort to locate him and return him to his family." Monday, August 9, 2004, military officials announced that analysis of the video in question is now complete. Major Mark Magalski, casualty assistant officer for the Maupin family, is quoted as saying, " There's nothing in the video that lends you to think it was Matt Maupin."
In March of 2002, Friends Working to Free Scott Speicher, Inc. was founded by Speicher's classmates of Forrest High School in Jacksonville, Florida. This group's mission is to raise awareness and finally bring Scott Speicher home. Vice President of the organization and Speicher friend Nels Jensen, says, " One reason I felt we were brought together is to serve as a beacon of light for our fallen warriors. It's necessary to point out the errors in judgements or mistakes made from 14 years ago concerning Scott, but more importantly our calling may be to ensure these mistakes never happen again as in the case of Matt Maupin." Carolyn and Keith Maupin have accepted an invitation to not only speak at this vigil but to join together with Speicher members in the fight for their son and Scott Speicher.
# # #
For more information and/or to schedule an interview with one of the speakers, please contact Georgia Davis, member of Friends Working to Free Scott Speicher, at 904-292-4197 or by email at Georgiand@aol.com.
March 8, 2008
"Matt's my buddy. He's my friend. He's my hero and I'm not going to give up on him."
Keith Maupin, on his son, Staff Sgt. Matt Maupin, left, missing and presumed captured in Iraq. Maupin was addressing a number of veterans groups in Hernando and Pasco counties.
=========================
What Happened To Matt Maupin?
TIME - USA
... He is Keith (Matt) Maupin, the only American soldier who is unaccounted for in Iraq. ...
"People have a tendency to forget," concedes Keith Maupin, Matt's father. ...
=============================
http://www.newsrecord.org/news/2005/04/21/Opinion/Column.Complacency.With.War.Needs.To.Be.Addressed-931760.shtml
.... Consider an example, the case of Army Reservist Pfc. Matt Maupin of Batavia. Last week marked the one-year anniversary of his capture and the Army decided to maintain his "captured" status, instead of changing it to "missing, presumed dead."
The media crush when Maupin was captured, which lasted longer than normal because it was used as a political tool during the presidential election, was incredible. Yet one year later, these two significant events barely created a media ripple.
Keith Maupin, Matt's father, has said he will begin to worry when people stop paying attention to his son's cause. This may have started to happen already.
Regardless of one's politics, this conflict, with soldiers dying virtually every day, is too important to become another forgotten news story.
Americans can care about ending it soon, or they can care about seeing it through, but they must at least continue to care.
==================================
December 2, 007
The family of Matt Maupin, (POW/MIA MissingCaptured) Captured in Iraq on April 9, 2004 is asking - for your help in the raising funds to aid in the search for Matt and bringing him back home.
Funds from the shirts will go toward finding Matt and the other 3 missing in this conflict in Iraq.
The Maupin family needs you to help us raise the funds for this project. If you would go to the following
website: WWW.KNOWYOURENEMYSPORTS.COM and check it out, you will see that the sale of these shirts will benefit not only our current POWs but will also benefit many of our Veterans.
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