ORLANDO, Fla. – Mayor Buddy Dyer, along with his Veterans Advisory Council, honored U.S. military prisoners of war and those still missing as part of POW/MIA Day.
The community was invited to attend the city’s recognition ceremony at Orlando City Hall, emceed by News 6′s Trooper Steve.
This year’s guest speaker was Keith Maupin. He’s the father of Army Staff Sgt. Matt Maupin, the first American soldier to be declared missing in action in the Iraq War.
“I’ve seen it on the news that a convoy got attacked and when I saw that convoy I just knew that was Matt,” Keith Maupin said. “I remember when he was a little feller. I said, ‘Matt, what you are you doing?’ and he said, “I’m just doing a mission, dad.’ So when you think about way back when and today, he was just on a mission,”
According to the Military Times, Maupin was captured in April 2004, south of Baghdad, when insurgents attacked his convoy.
In 2008, the Army announced that Maupin’s remains and part of his uniform had been found about 10 to 15 miles northwest of Baghdad.
Maupin, a 24-year-old from Batavia, Ohio, enlisted in 2002 and was assigned to the Army Reserve.
The Maupin family created a foundation in honor of Matt — the Yellow Ribbon Fund — which sends care packages to men and woman currently deployed.
Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily: