Reported by: Richard Chiles
Photographed by: Philip Lee
Monday marks three years since Army Sergeant Matt Maupin of Union Township was kidnapped by insurgents outside Baghdad.
To this day, he remains the only U.S. service member who's unaccounted for in Iraq.
In those three years, there has been an outpouring of support for the soldier's family from throughout the Tri-state and across the nation, and the Maupins say it's that support that's carried them through these difficult times.
"It doesn't get easier," Matt Maupin's mother Carolyn said Sunday night. "I cry. I pray. I'm waiting for the day I get a call saying, 'hey mom,' or the army says, 'we've got him,' and then I'm going to be rejoicing. Thats how I do it. Day by day."
Day by day is how Carolyn says she has gotten through the last three years. Three years of waiting for word about her son matt, captured in Iraq.
They get leads and they follow them and we have great communications with them, and its going," she explained.
Haunting images are the last we have seen of Sergeant Keith Matthew Maupin. It has been three years since we learned of the Clermont County soldier's capture; his whereabouts are unknown.
On April 9, insurgents attacked Maupin's convoy outside of Baghdad.
"It makes it hard on Good Friday," Carolyn said. "Because that's when we got the word of Matt's capture on Good Friday."
Over the last three years, we have prayed and waited and hoped with the Maupins as yellow ribbons have blossomed across Clermont County.
Carolyn says it's the companionship friends and neighbors that has given her strength.
"Right now, there's a lot of people around, but when all the people are gone, we'll be alone again, and that will be hard. That will be very hard," she said. "We appreciate the support, and don't forget to pray for Matt."
On Monday, about $80,000 in scholarships will be awarded at the annual "Let Us Not Forget" dinner and memorial celebrating the life of Matt Maupin and the memory of those who have lost their lives during the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Click here for more information on the event.
