Soldier’s funeral likely to draw thousands

Matt Maupin had been captured in 2004 in an ambush.

CINCINNATI (AP) — Police and the family of a young Ohio soldier who became identified with the war in Iraq are planning for thousands of people to attend his funeral Sunday.

“Matt Maupin became America’s son during the four years he was missing,” said Dan Bare, Clermont County Veterans’ Services director. “He was the face of the war.”

His parents, Keith and Carolyn Maupin, and their Yellow Ribbon Support Center, have sent nearly 10,000 packages of toiletries, magazines and snacks and games to soldiers.

Staff Sgt. Keith Matthew Maupin’s remains are to arrive from Dover Air Force Base on Saturday morning. Thousands of people are expected to line the yellow ribbon-festooned route from Lunken Airport through Cincinnati’s eastern suburbs to the Union Township Civic Center in Clermont County for visitation lasting overnight.

On Sunday, Maupin’s coffin will be taken to downtown Cincinnati for a memorial service at Great American Ball Park at 1 p.m., hours after a March of Dimes fundraiser that is expected to draw about 10,000 walkers.

“Our special-events people are good at what they do,” said Lt. Mark Briede, a police spokesman. “We handle large crowds, such as Riverfest.”

That yearly event draws about 500,000 people each Labor Day weekend.

“We just want things to be smooth for the Maupin family and the community,” Briede said. “Keep your fingers crossed for no rain.”

Maupin was a 20-year-old private first class when he was captured April 9, 2004, after his fuel convoy, part of the Bartonville, Ill.-based 724th Transportation Co., was ambushed west of Baghdad.

A week later, the Arab television network Al-Jazeera aired a videotape showing Maupin wearing camouflage and a floppy desert hat, sitting on the floor surrounded by five masked men holding automatic rifles.

That June, another Al-Jazeera tape purported to show a U.S. soldier being shot. But the dark and grainy images showed only the back of the victim’s head and not the execution.

For nearly four years, and largely because of his parents’ determined lobbying with the Army, their congressman and President Bush, Maupin was listed as captured/missing and received promotions based on time in service to keep him on a par with his contemporaries.

A month after his capture, he was promoted to the rank of specialist, in April 2005 to sergeant and in August 2006 to staff sergeant.

Throughout, the Maupins received regular Pentagon briefings and private meetings with the president. On March 30, a three-star general went to the Yellow Ribbon Support Center to tell the Maupins that their son’s remains had been found.

The next day, opening day of the baseball season, the Maupins rode in an open convertible in Cincinnati’s traditional opening day parade.

“It was important to be here to let everyone know that we thank them for their support and their love of our family and for standing by Matt as they are today,” Carolyn Maupin said then.

Although it removed any uncertainty about Matt’s death, the news has been hard on the Maupins, who never gave up hope they would see Matt alive again.

“I won’t have my closing, and Carolyn won’t have hers, until the dust settles and everybody is gone,” Keith said Wednesday.

He wanted huge venues for the visitation and memorial service because he believes there are thousands people who want to pay their respects.

Most of his son’s unit, the 724th Transportation Co., is expected, along with hundreds of bikers who have been involved in fundraising, supporters from across the country and thousands from southwest Ohio.

“This is not for a showing,” Maupin said. “This is to give these people who have helped us and been here for four years a chance to be here for the end of this and to say ‘bye’ to Matt.”

There was speculation that Bush might attend, but Maupin said that is unlikely.

“I don’t expect him,” Maupin said. “I understand he still has a war going on and he has a country to run.”

Military brass from Washington will attend, and the work of the Yellow Ribbon Support Center will go on.

“We’re going to continue our mission here. It’s important that we do,” Keith said. “We’ve still got 140,000 troops over there who need our support, and at least three guys still missing.”

Lots of people help the Maupins keep Matt’s name alive. There’s a scholarship banquet each year on the anniversary of his capture, a youth baseball tournament, a fishing tournament next month and a proposal in the Ohio House of Representatives to rename a portion of Interstate 275 in Clermont County.

“People have a tendency to forget with time, but not here,” Bare said. “In Clermont County, the community embraced Matt and refused to give up hope. That spirit of support remains for all of our men and women stationed on foreign soil.”