It is almost fitting then that today we focus on recent news that the remains of a soldier who went missing in 2004 have finally been found. U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Matt Maupin went missing on April 9, 2004 during an ambush outside of Baghdad. A few months later a video surfaced depicting the shooting to death of a man dressed in Army fatigues–a man said to be Maupin. But because of the video quality, investigators were unable to positively identify that the victim was indeed Maupin.
The Associated Press reported on the reaction of Maupin’s parents:
An editorial in the Cincinnati Inquirer provides a dead-on rumination on the significance of this news’ timing:
“I told them when we’d go up to the Pentagon, whether he walks off a plane or is carried off, you’re not going to leave him in Iraq like you did those guys in Vietnam,” Maupin said….
….“It hurts,” Carolyn Maupin said. “After you go through almost four years of hope, and this is what happens, it’s like a letdown, so I’m trying to get through that right now.”
The Maupins were told by an Army official on Friday to expect an update on their son over the weekend, Keith Maupin said. The Army broke the news about their son’s remains at a somber meeting.
The Kentucky Post has the Army’s official findings:
So there’s a sad closure in the fact that the agonizingly long-awaited news of his fate should end that month: Matt, perhaps more than any other American serving in that conflict, has helped put a tangible, individual human face on an issue filled with abstractions and acrimony.
However you feel about the war in Iraq, the story of Matt Maupin - who had joined the Army Reserve to earn money for college - brings home the human cost of war, the lost potential, the lives not fully lived.
For a look at other soldiers still missing in Iraq check out this past Soldier’s Home post. Fortunately, you can disregard the information about Matt Maupin. He’s home now.
