thedrifter
03-10-08, 10:23 AM
Remembering Matt
By TONY MARRERO
Published: March 9, 2008
BROOKSVILLE - BROOKSVILLE - In a garage in Batavia, Ohio, a Mustang awaits its owner.
Matt Maupin bought the red muscle car before shipping off to Iraq as a private first class in the U.S. Army Reserve.
Keith Maupin, in whose garage the 1998 Ford sits ready, believes his son will get to drive that car again one day.
"I believe he's alive," Maupin said Thursday during a visit to Spring Hill's Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10209.
Matt Maupin was captured by Iraqi insurgents on April 9, 2004, after his convoy came under fire near Baghdad. On June 28, a tape surfaced that purportedly showed Matt's execution.
The U.S. Army deemed the tape inconclusive and continues to search for Maupin, who has been promoted since his disappearance to staff sergeant. Keith Maupin, 57, hasn't watched the video but has seen still photos and agrees with the Army.
Maupin has met with top U.S. generals to talk about the search for his son. He said he initially felt compelled to complain that the military wasn't communicating enough with the family about the search. Now, he says, it's better.
He has powwowed with President Bush eight times since Matt's capture, flying on Air Force One and dining on shish kebob.
Bush asked Maupin when he was going to shave his unruly grey beard.
"When you bring Matt home," Maupin replied.
Maupin and Matt's mother, Carolyn Maupin, who also have a 22-year-old son named Micah who is a sergeant in the U.S. Marines, now work to ensure the search for their son and for four other missing servicemen is unrelenting.
They founded the nonprofit Yellow Ribbon Support Center in Cincinnati not long after Matt was captured to put together care packages to troops and to remind the public about prisoners of war and those missing in action.
The center also has awarded 100 scholarships to servicemen and women, and shipped computers overseas so personnel can keep in touch with families back home.
"At first this was just about Matt," Maupin admits, but now says the mission is bigger than that. "I think we've been put in this position, and Matt is where he is, because that's where we're supposed to be, and I'm not going to give up on that. I believe what we're doing is working."
Then he repeated a quote that is now emblazoned on the back of a shirt sold to raise money for the center: "People have a tendency to forget. We can't let that happen."
'Big boy, shy guy'
Matt Maupin, who turns 25 in July, is a "big boy," his father says: 6-foot-2, 220 pounds, with a size 15 boot. But he's a gentle giant, Keith Maupin says, a "self-sufficient, shy guy."
Maupin said patriotism played a big part in his son's decision to enlist in 2002. The horrific images from the previous September were still fresh in mind.
Matt also wanted to go to college and the Marines could help make that happen. Carolyn Maupin told her son that the family could get by without Matt enlisting.
"I don't want to just get by," Keith remembers as his son's reply. "I want to get it done."
Matt had started studying nutritional science at the University of Cincinnati with plans to become a personal trainer. Keith Maupin — himself a veteran of the U.S. Marines — didn't try to talk Matt out of out of enlisting, but he did try to drive home a message.
"You better read the newspaper, Bub," Keith recalls telling his son. "There's a war going on. If you're not willing to kill a guy, he's going to kill you."
"Dad," Matt replied, "I gotta do what I gotta do."
On Thursday, Maupin talked to about two dozen people at the VFW post. About half sported the patch-heavy leather vests of the Rolling Thunder, a motorcycle group dedicated to POW-MIA awareness.
As a storm blew in and Mother Nature's own thunder rolled outside, Maupin chatted with well-wishers.
"Semper Fi," said one man, grabbing Maupin's hand. "God bless you."
"It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings," Maupin replied with a smile. "And if she does, I'm going to choke her."
Maupin told the crowd that he gets strength from a few lines of a lengthy letter a supporter once sent him. It read, "We don't know where Matt is, but God does. We can't see Matt, but God can, and God's will be done."
"I'm not the most religious guy, but I believe that with all my heart," Maupin said.
Bob Strange, a member of Rolling Thunder Chapter 7 in Beverly Hills, said Maupin's resolve is inspiring.
"We need more people like him," Strange said. "I hate that he has to be involved in this way, missing his son all this time. But I think it's fantastic he has such strength and spirit to believe his son's still alive. It makes everybody believe it, and we just need to go get him."
Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.
Ellie
By TONY MARRERO
Published: March 9, 2008
BROOKSVILLE - BROOKSVILLE - In a garage in Batavia, Ohio, a Mustang awaits its owner.
Matt Maupin bought the red muscle car before shipping off to Iraq as a private first class in the U.S. Army Reserve.
Keith Maupin, in whose garage the 1998 Ford sits ready, believes his son will get to drive that car again one day.
"I believe he's alive," Maupin said Thursday during a visit to Spring Hill's Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10209.
Matt Maupin was captured by Iraqi insurgents on April 9, 2004, after his convoy came under fire near Baghdad. On June 28, a tape surfaced that purportedly showed Matt's execution.
The U.S. Army deemed the tape inconclusive and continues to search for Maupin, who has been promoted since his disappearance to staff sergeant. Keith Maupin, 57, hasn't watched the video but has seen still photos and agrees with the Army.
Maupin has met with top U.S. generals to talk about the search for his son. He said he initially felt compelled to complain that the military wasn't communicating enough with the family about the search. Now, he says, it's better.
He has powwowed with President Bush eight times since Matt's capture, flying on Air Force One and dining on shish kebob.
Bush asked Maupin when he was going to shave his unruly grey beard.
"When you bring Matt home," Maupin replied.
Maupin and Matt's mother, Carolyn Maupin, who also have a 22-year-old son named Micah who is a sergeant in the U.S. Marines, now work to ensure the search for their son and for four other missing servicemen is unrelenting.
They founded the nonprofit Yellow Ribbon Support Center in Cincinnati not long after Matt was captured to put together care packages to troops and to remind the public about prisoners of war and those missing in action.
The center also has awarded 100 scholarships to servicemen and women, and shipped computers overseas so personnel can keep in touch with families back home.
"At first this was just about Matt," Maupin admits, but now says the mission is bigger than that. "I think we've been put in this position, and Matt is where he is, because that's where we're supposed to be, and I'm not going to give up on that. I believe what we're doing is working."
Then he repeated a quote that is now emblazoned on the back of a shirt sold to raise money for the center: "People have a tendency to forget. We can't let that happen."
'Big boy, shy guy'
Matt Maupin, who turns 25 in July, is a "big boy," his father says: 6-foot-2, 220 pounds, with a size 15 boot. But he's a gentle giant, Keith Maupin says, a "self-sufficient, shy guy."
Maupin said patriotism played a big part in his son's decision to enlist in 2002. The horrific images from the previous September were still fresh in mind.
Matt also wanted to go to college and the Marines could help make that happen. Carolyn Maupin told her son that the family could get by without Matt enlisting.
"I don't want to just get by," Keith remembers as his son's reply. "I want to get it done."
Matt had started studying nutritional science at the University of Cincinnati with plans to become a personal trainer. Keith Maupin — himself a veteran of the U.S. Marines — didn't try to talk Matt out of out of enlisting, but he did try to drive home a message.
"You better read the newspaper, Bub," Keith recalls telling his son. "There's a war going on. If you're not willing to kill a guy, he's going to kill you."
"Dad," Matt replied, "I gotta do what I gotta do."
On Thursday, Maupin talked to about two dozen people at the VFW post. About half sported the patch-heavy leather vests of the Rolling Thunder, a motorcycle group dedicated to POW-MIA awareness.
As a storm blew in and Mother Nature's own thunder rolled outside, Maupin chatted with well-wishers.
"Semper Fi," said one man, grabbing Maupin's hand. "God bless you."
"It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings," Maupin replied with a smile. "And if she does, I'm going to choke her."
Maupin told the crowd that he gets strength from a few lines of a lengthy letter a supporter once sent him. It read, "We don't know where Matt is, but God does. We can't see Matt, but God can, and God's will be done."
"I'm not the most religious guy, but I believe that with all my heart," Maupin said.
Bob Strange, a member of Rolling Thunder Chapter 7 in Beverly Hills, said Maupin's resolve is inspiring.
"We need more people like him," Strange said. "I hate that he has to be involved in this way, missing his son all this time. But I think it's fantastic he has such strength and spirit to believe his son's still alive. It makes everybody believe it, and we just need to go get him."
Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.
Ellie