Re: Free Matt in Iraq

Date: June 28, 2004

"Relatives recall captured soldier with Vigo ties

By Patricia L. Pastore/Tribune-Star

To hear Chauncey Schimmel speak of his nephew, Pfc. Keith Matthew "Matt" Maupin, sends a tingle up the spine.

Maupin is an American soldier who disappeared April 9 when a convoy was attacked by Iraqi insurgents.

Schimmel of North Terre Haute thinks of his nephew on and off throughout the day. He wonders where he is being held hostage in Iraq. He is hopeful those who captured him will treat him humanely, the concerned man said Thursday.

A yellow ribbon on his red truck reads "Free Matt in Iraq." It is one of many displayed in this area.

Schimmel said a friend made him 300 of the special decorations to distribute for his nephew of Batavia, Ohio. He knows people throughout the country are praying for his nephew's safe return. He said the prayers are needed now more than ever.

"I just hope everybody keeps praying and asking that he is returned home safely," he said. "Matt is really a good kid. I can't ever remember when he didn't have a smile plastered on his face. When I saw him at Thanksgiving, he had already enlisted."

Even the power of the presidency couldn't find Maupin's place of captivity in Iraq and all the special intelligence hasn't uncovered any information about this soldier since an April 16 videotape was released by the Iraqi insurgents.

Maupin's mother, Carolyn Schimmel Maupin, met with President Bush on Monday in Washington, D.C. He had no new information about her son, a disappointed Chauncey Schimmel said. He said the president told her everything possible was being done to find him.

"She held up really good for the first few weeks," Chauncey Schimmel said of his sister. "It's a lot harder for her now with all the violence going on over there. She has been off work since Matt went missing but she went back to work Tuesday to try and take her mind off it because she thinks of him every minute of the day."

Maupin's mother returned to Vigo County twice for visits with her family and friends since her son was captured. They are a close-knit family who despite the distance between them share both the good times and the bad, Schimmel said. He said residents of the small Ohio town where his sister works and lives offer her tremendous daily support. He said they haven't overwhelmed her with visits and phone calls. They respect her privacy but offer any type of assistance she wants, he said. He noted that several fund-raisers within the community help fill the void of a paycheck while she isn't working.

Northeastern Vigo County was his nephew's second home since birth.

"Matt loves to come here to see his family, Schimmel said. "He's got two more uncles here, my brothers Dave and Mike, and also his grandmother. Carolyn and all of us were born and raised in the Terre Haute community."

Maupin's links to this community brought him here four or more times every year since he was born.

The 20-year-old who joined the Army Reserve to earn money for college was in a convoy attacked outside Baghdad. Maupin was in Iraq two months when he was the first U.S. serviceman kidnapped, Schimmel said. Maupin, a member of the Army Reserve Transportation Company No. 724 of Bartonville, Ill., appeared on a videotape April 16 on the Arab television network Al Jazeera. A spokesman for the captors, who spoke in Arabic, said, "He is in good health and is being treated as a prisoner according to Islamic law." The spokesman also said " ... we are keeping him here hoping to exchange him with some of our people taken prisoners by American forces."

Schimmel told of Maupin's last visit to this county, where he spent Thanksgiving wolfing down a feast in his grandmother's home in northeastern Vigo County.

"Matt loves to eat," Schimmel said. "I think his favorite foods are his 74-year-old grandmother, Barbara Schimmel's, homemade noodles and mashed potatoes. Mom teased him about having a hole in his stomach. He loved to eat."

Since Maupin was captured, his mother is never left alone.

"Someone is always with my sister, Chauncey Schimmel said. He said an Army major is with her, now.

"Matt was a big stocky kid who loved to play football in high school and he fishes in a little pond when he comes down here," his uncle said.

"The last time we saw him was when they released that videotape from Iraq," he said. "Since then, we have had no news about my nephew. We have not heard one thing. We are just hoping and praying for the best."

Matt Maupin's uncle suggests the best way to help Matt and his family is for people to keep him on their prayer list, and think positive thoughts about him "until we get him home."

Patricia Pastore can be reached at (812)231-4271 or pat.pastore@tribstar.com
© 2004 Tribune Star"