Iraq POW to be honored at Rolling Thunder vigil in Morrison
By Dick Foster, Rocky Mountain News
A vigil in Morrison next month will honor the only U.S. soldier listed as a prisoner of war in Iraq, Sgt. -Keith Matthew "Matt" Maupin.
The gathering, sponsored by Rolling Thunder, will begin at noon April 9 at the Veterans' Memorial in Morrison to mark the anniversary date of his capture two years ago.
"Anybody and everybody is invited. You don't have to be a biker or a veteran," said Don Marsh, Denver chapter president of Rolling Thunder, a national organization dedicated to remembering American prisoners of war and those missing in action.
Maupin, from Batavia, Ohio, was a 20-year-old private first class when he was taken by Iraqi insurgents during an attack on a fuel convoy near the Baghdad airport April 9, 2004. Five drivers were killed in the attack.
Maupin, Sgt. Elmer Krause, a 40-year-old truck driver from Greensboro, N.C., and a civilian contractor, Thomas Hamill from Macon, Miss., were captured.
Video of Hamill and Maupin identifying themselves to their captors was shown on Al Jazeera television April 16, a week after the attack.
Krause's body was found April 23, and Hamill escaped 24 days after the attack. No trace of Maupin has been found.
Al Jazeera reported June 28 that Maupin had been executed. A video of the execution was obtained by the Army, which described it as inconclusive in identifying Maupin.
"We don't know if he's alive or if he's dead. There was the video about 15 days after his capture that showed a blindfolded G.I., and they showed him being shot in the head. But it's inconclusive if that was Matt Maupin or not," Marsh said.
Maupin is still officially classified as a prisoner of war under federal law, said Marsh.
The law requires the military to have a body, DNA, conclusive video evidence or other physical proof that a U.S. service member has been killed in order to declare him deceased and remove him from prisoner-of-war or missing-in-action status, Marsh said.
"This is one of the parts that was written into the law. We actually worked with (retired Sen.) Ben Nighthorse Campbell on this. The government cannot just kill a soldier on a piece of paper without physical evidence," Rolling Thunder media coordinator Pat Taylor said.
In fact, the Army has promoted Maupin twice in the time since his capture. He is now a sergeant.
Marsh is hoping to draw more than the 125 people who turned out last year for Rolling Thunder's first vigil for Maupin.
"It's open to everybody - last year we had people who were just passing through Morrison and they stopped to see what was happening and they stayed," Marsh said. "Afterward we had some comments from them saying they were glad that they stopped."
Salute
What: A vigil to honor Sgt. Keith Matthew "Matt" Maupin, a POW in Iraq.
When: noon, April 9
Where: Veterans' Memorial in Morrison
2006 © The E.W. Scripps Co.