Re: Flags & Ribbons Fly for POW and MIA in Iraq

Date: April 18, 2004

"Town stays upbeat; ribbons, flags flutter for missing Ohio soldier

By Robert E. Pierre Washington Post

BATAVIA, Ohio - A plaque at the Clermont County Courthouse honoring former residents such as Ulysses S. Grant proclaims: "We take pride in our people, and our places and perhaps this is why we fly our flags so high."

On Saturday, the red, white and blue stood tall in a stiff spring breeze. The Rotary Club spent the morning pruning and trimming around the Persian Gulf memorial. Businesses, and even home-delivered newspapers, were wrapped in yellow ribbons.

While much of the nation, and military leaders, rued the thought of Army Pfc. Keith "Matt" Maupin in enemy hands, this suburban Cincinnati community breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Maupin, 20, is one of two soldiers who had been unaccounted for since April 9, when an Army fuel-truck convoy was ambushed with gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades near Abu Ghraib, an impoverished western suburb of Baghdad.

A scholar-athlete at Glen Este High School, Maupin joined the Army Reserve to help pay for college. His mother, Carolyn, headed a local support group for military moms. A brother just completed Marine basic training.

When residents saw his grainy image on television, one fact stood out: At least he's alive.

In communities like this one across the nation, the political debate about the justness of the war, and even mounting U.S. casualties, move to the back burner when there's news - good or bad - about one of their own.

"We're like a large family," said June Creager, executive director of the county convention and visitors bureau. "We really fell the pain of the family."

The same is true in the communities where Elmer Krause - who disappeared along with Maupin a week ago - made his mark. A truck driver who lives in Greensboro, N.C., Krause, 40, is an Army veteran who later joined the Reserve.

Katie Elizalda, a friend of Krause's since they were toddlers in Vallejo, Calif., said she last got one of his periodic phone calls from Iraq three or four weeks ago.

He told her the Army Reserves' 724th Transportation Co., to which Maupin and Krause were attached, was about to move. He didn't say where. For the past week, Elizalda, who lives in Cisco, Texas, has stayed in contact with Krause's siblings and pestered the military for information. By late Friday, she was in tears with worry and frustration. "How come they can't find him? No one will answer that question," she said. "Is this man eating? Is he getting something to drink? Is he OK?"

In the absence of answers, families and communities must decide how best to deal with the frustrations of war.

In Batavia, the response has been to wrap arms around the family. There have been two vigils - one after he went missing, another after the videotape aired Friday. There was a service Saturday.

Nearly every structure on Main Street has a yellow ribbon. The sign at Snappy Tomato Pizza now reads: "Pray for the POW MIA."

The family has mostly stayed in seclusion since learning last week that Maupin was missing. But Friday, family friend Carl R. Cottrell II said the support had not gone unnoticed. He asked people to continue displaying yellow ribbons "so Matt can see them when he comes home."

Friends said Maupin's mother, Carolyn, always believed her son was alive.

"With Carolyn, there never was any doubt," said Mia Supe, who helps her run a support group for military families. "She said 'I know my kid feels all the prayers.' She does not doubt that he's coming home."

Supe joined the support group because her brother, Sgt. 1st Class Curtis "Bobby" Elliot, was stationed in Iraq. He recently returned home.

Saturday, she was running errands for the hundreds of soldiers they send packages to with Karen Flinn, whose son, Christopher Thomas Flinn, has been in Iraq for a year and just got extended another 120 days.

Flinn said she worries about Christopher, and recently heard that regular e-mails will soon dry up because his unit is on the move. Today's care package - crackers, chocolate, graphite lube for his weapon and tuna - will go off anyway.

The two women said they hope the interest around Maupin's case will remind those who don't have a loved one serving that soldiers need their prayers - and support in the form of packages.

Len Dickerson, a native of Batavia and local business owner, said he hopes the deaths and capture of U.S. soldiers will build support for the war effort.

"There's a lot of people who don't understand that we're at war," said Dickerson, 50, "Do we like to see our kids getting killed? Hell, no. But you cannot be an appeaser. In some parts of the world, you're considered weak.""