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Category:
Published: February 2007
This month's Hero award is shared by Iraq War POW Matt Maupin and his parents Keith and Carolyn Maupin, who have tirelessly worked to find their son and bring him home.
This month, Success Magazine, Ltd honors not one but three heroes. The first is Matt Maupin, a POW of the current Iraq War. The other two heroes are Matt's parents, Carolyn and Keith Maupin, who have kept up the fight to find Matt and gain his freedom since his capture in 2004. This is their story.
On April 9th, 2004 a convoy of the Army's Reserve 724th Transportation Company came under fire en route to the Baghdad International Airport. The 26-vehicle group drove through what was nothing less than a five mile ambush, assaulted by mujahdeen gunfire, mortars and rocket propelled grenades. The majority of the convoy arrived at the airport unharmed, but after further inspection it was discovered that nine personnel, seven soldiers and two contractors, were unaccounted for. Shortly after the battle, the Army recovered the bodies of several soldiers and one contractor. One civilian, Thomas Hammill, escaped from his captors. The remaining soldier, Matt Maupin, remained missing.
On April 16th of that year, a disoriented Maupin was seen on a tape broadcasted by Aj-Jazeera where he identified himself by rank as "Private First Class Keith Matthew Maupin," a standard procedure used by soldiers to gain protection under the Geneva Conventions. This was the last time anyone has seen Pfc. Maupin. On June 28, 2004 a group known as "The Persistent Power Against the Enemies of God and the Prophet" claimed to have killed Maupin. A tape released by the group showed an unidentified figure executed via a gunshot to the head. U.S. Military did not consider the tape evidence of Maupin's demise and believe it may have just been a cruel hoax. Their reasoning stemmed from the group having no prior record of terrorist acts, the lack of any demands before the killing and, most importantly, the seemingly purposeful shadowing of the figure's identity, something that any jihadist group proudly shows to prove the veracity of their claim.
Pfc. Matthew Maupin's battle for survival in Iraq likely continues. Yet another battle, equally difficult and equally painful, has been waged by his parents Carolyn and Keith at home. While the U.S. military still considers Maupin MIA (missing in action), it has been up to these two to keep his name alive and their effort to bring Matt Maupin home in the spotlight.
Yet these parents do not consider their efforts an act of heroism but rather one of love and necessity. When asked what their first thoughts were when seeing their son as a hostage, Carolyn Maupin merely says that she was "scared to death." This feeling has not diminished, they say, but has only been submerged under the overwhelming desire to bring their son home. This desire has led them to create several events, from hundreds strong ribbon-making workshops to support the troops to large vigils in popular parts of the nearby city of Cincinnati. Both Keith and Carolyn have also attended events and sent thousands of care packages to troops in Iraq filled not only with provisions but also pictures of Matt Maupin and a note asking to not forget their son.
Keith has also taken it upon himself to contact journalists covering the war across the country with a request to keep information about his son in the public eye. He has also contacted different officials in the military, including Gen. Schumaker who promised Mr. Maupin that saving Matt Maupin was their second mission just below securing Iraq. While Keith has found that, despite this claim, many soldiers had no idea that a Matt Maupin even existed let alone that they were supposed to rescue him, he is not bitter about the war or his son's unknown fate. He understands the price a soldier has to pay in battle and believes it is still his job to support the troops.
Now, almost three years since their son's disappearance, Carolyn and Keith Maupin face renewed anxiety about their second son, Micah, who has enlisted in the Marines. Though his unit has not yet been called into active duty, they pray that the son they lost at the start of the Iraq War will come back to them and the son they still have will remain close to them.
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