REMEMBERING MATT MAUPIN
Hope endures for other MIAs
BY MISTI CRANE
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
On one side, they rested an empty chair.
"The chair is empty, but saved for their hopeful return. Let us remember their absence," said Courtney Rushing, a sophomore.
Keith "Matt" Maupin for four years lived in the hearts of those who loved him.
Their hope was that the young man who left Ohio for Iraq at 20 years old had been kept alive since his capture on April 9, 2004.
His parents learned otherwise late last month when the military identified Maupin's remains, silencing prayers of hope for his safe return.
Wednesday is National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day; For more than a decade, American Legion Post 614 in Hilliard has held a ceremony in recognition. In recent years, those gathered at the post have prayed for Maupin.
As she readied for the annual program that she coordinates, Dianne Schultz grew quiet, reflecting on the dedication of this year's event to the young man's memory.
Schultz, whose father, husband and son all were servicemen, held out hope along with Maupin's family.
"I was convinced he'd come home alive," she said.
"When you send your child off to war and they haven't recovered the body, there's always that internal hope."
On the table, the young people placed a flower and ribbon to remember the loved ones who keep the faith, a lemon for their bitter fate, salt to symbolize tears, an inverted glass for those who can't toast, and a Bible, for faith.
"The table is small, symbolizing the frailty of one prisoner alone against his oppressors," freshman Sean Gregory said.
Seven former POWs, all from World War II, sat near one another at the event.
Most wore burgundy blazers. Burgundy, ex-POW Bill Schmidt noted, is the color of blood.
The company of other POWs, he said, is immeasurable in its worth.
"It's easier to talk to a POW versus a civilian who doesn't know beans from bologna," he said, chuckling a bit and coaxing fellow former POW Don Kirby of Groveport to share the story of a man whose life he saved, a feat that earned him the Bronze Star Medal.
Schmidt, who keeps a picture of Maupin in his East Side home and spent 30 years of his life silent about his experience in Germany, had been less optimistic about the young man's fate.
"As time went on, and knowing the enemy that we have, it seemed very unlikely that he was alive," Schmidt said.
"Remember those whom we depended on in battle. They depend on us to bring them home," freshman Daria Mosel said.
Almost 88,000 service members remain missing, according to the Defense Department, the agency charged with recovering remains of U.S. military personnel.
Since 1993, when efforts to find missing service members were consolidated into one department, 1,469 bodies have been found and identified, most of them from the Vietnam War, said Larry Greer, spokesman for the Department of Defense's POW/MIA office.
Three men who fought in the current war remain missing.
Dianne Schultz lit a candle at a second table to symbolize unity for protection of U.S. freedom. Children rested flowers, most of them daisies, at its base.
More information on efforts to find missing service members is at www.dtic.mil/dpmo.
© 2008, The Columbus Dispatch