Do You Know?

Do you know who Army Reserve Sergeant Keith "Matt" Maupin is? He is a soldier who was captured west of Baghdad when his fuel truck convoy was ambushed by insurgents on April 9, 2004. He is the only American MIA. His parents were in Washington today to get an update on the search for their son.

"We will not discuss the specifics of the update because it is an ongoing operation and saying anything could be detrimental to Matt's safe return and the safety of those involved in the search," his parents said in a written statement.

The statement continued, "It has been more than 18 months since he was captured, and we pray every day for him and the soldiers who continue to search for him. We ask the American people to do the same."

It was reported in a previous article that there is a video of a young man being executed, but they could not definitively state whether or not it was Sgt. Maupin, so at this point he is still considered Missing In Action.

Despite claims by the insurgents and an inconclusive video of someone being killed by them, an Army board of inquiry that met April 6, 2005, to review his status decided to maintain Maupin, who was promoted to sergeant on April 1, 2005, in "Missing-Captured" status.

His unit returned home, sadly without him.

Maupin’s unit returned from its tour of duty in Iraq in February. Upon its return, one Soldier in the unit, Spc. Jeremy L. Church, was presented with the Silver Star, the Nation’s third-highest combat award, and the first one earned by an Army Reserve Soldier in the Global War on Terror. He received this decoration for his courageous actions during the convoy ambush.

Matt is never far from Jeremy's mind.

Before the unit came home in February, Church re-enlisted for six more years in the Army Reserve. When asked why he chose to re-enlist, Church had this to say:

“I’m not through with the military. He’s [Maupin] still over there. Ribbons aren’t coming down until we get him back.”

"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers. For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother..." Shakespeare

AP ARNEWS

UPDATE: John over at Mudbugs Blog has even more information not only on Matt, but another soldier, Tim Bell, who was captured at the same time. I had no idea that there was another captive. The articles have only ever mentioned Matt as the "only" MIA. Pray for them both.
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