Posted on 03/23/2006 6:18:37 PM PST by SandRat
CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq (March 5, 2006) -- It was an honorable mission.
Marines from 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 5, assisted recently in the search for Army Sgt. Keith M. Maupin remains. The recovery team consisted of U.S. Army and British soldiers.
Test results confirmed that several partial sets of remains that were recovered were not American. Still, Marines and soldiers were proud to take part in the search to recover Maupin.
“It is the noblest of missions,” said Gunnery Sgt. Brett A. Turek, a 37-year-old Mobile Assault Platoon commander from Hinsdale, Ill. “Fifty years from now, when we’re bouncing our grandkids on our knees and they ask what we did in the Marine Corps, we’ll be able to say this is what we did to make a difference.”
Marines searched several possible grave sites south of Fallujah. Maupin was taken captive by insurgents April 9, 2004, when his convoy was attacked near Abu Ghraib, south of Baghdad. He was shown on insurgent propaganda films and insurgents later claimed to have executed him, although the video was never authenticated.
“We exploit every single one as if it’s the one,” said Army Sgt. 1st Class James Haftmann, a 37-year-old from Charleston, S.C., assigned to Multi-National Corps Iraq’s Personnel Recovery Detachment. “But we don’t stop searching.”
The recovery team was comprised of Marines from 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Logistics Group, as well as soldiers from MNCI’s Personnel Recovery Detachment and British soldiers from the Joint Forces (United Kingdom) Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group, 32 Engineer Regiment.
Maupin is the only U.S. servicemember listed as missing in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Navy Capt. Michael Scott Speicher is still listed as missing from Operation Desert Storm.
Efforts to find Maupin have been ongoing since June 2004, shortly after his capture. A total of 72 grave sites were excavated, unearthing remains. Still, the search for Maupin continues.
Haftmann said the dig here to recover Maupin’s remains came from a “reliable source.”
“He’s been reliable in the past,” he explained. “He has some credibility with us. He knew there was a Caucasian buried here. He said it was American.”
Haftmann said although the source was inexact as to Maupin’s identity, each tip was treated as if it was completely accurate. He spoke of the mission as Marines operating heavy construction equipment began scraping the loose desert sand, just inches at a time.
“One source could be wrong, but it could be right,” Hatfmann explained. “We don’t want to rule anything out.”
Haftmann said hundreds of servicemembers behind the scenes have been dedicated to recovering Maupin. Intelligence gatherers and analysts down to infantrymen and engineers pored over multiple sites, hoping each hole would yield the answers for which they searched.
Marines seized the suspected burial site, pushing forces out to maintain security. They found on a small hilltop four crude graves, marked with simple, weather-worn stones. A fifth empty grave was just feet away, half-filled with wind-blow sand.
British engineers 1st Lt. Chris Elworthy, Cpl. Iain Hammond and Lance Cpl. David Berry dragged a ground-penetrating radar over the protruding mounds of sand and confirmed that anomalies – disturbances – lay beneath the sand. This was the proof they sought that remains might actually lay beneath the ground.
Marine engineers were called in and began digging the sand away, scraping away the sand and shards of limestone. Marines and soldiers searched each bucket for signs of remains.
“It gets very personal,” Haftmann explained. “Not just because he’s an Army guy. Anybody in the service is a priority. My motivating factor is if I had a son, the last thing I’d want is nobody looking for him. The toughest part is not knowing … finding something like we did today and wait.”
Nearly an hour into the digging, the first bones were unearthed. Marines and soldiers crowded closer, carefully combing through sand. The chugging of the diesel engines from the construction equipment nearly drowned out the Marines’ whispers and they bent closer, examining nearly every grain.
Army Master Sgt. Roy D. Lee, a 38-year-old from Picayune, Miss., and also assigned to MNCI’s Personnel Recovery Detachment, said he has a connection to finding Maupin. He was serving in Baquba when Maupin was captured.
“You get to know a guy when you research what happened and how he got taken,” Lee said. “You get to know him as well as someone you work with.”
The team photographed and marked each set of remains. They placed the bones gingerly into bags. Each time a fragment of bone was found, heavy digging stopped and Haftmann jumped into the grave, digging by hand.
“These are moments in time that stop for you,” Turek said. “You start to become more involved and want to help out.”
Turek said he didn’t inform his Marines the exact nature of the mission until moments before they mounted their vehicles to leave.
“Once they got the mission statement, it sunk in,” he explained.
“You treat it as any other mission, but it became very personal for me,” Turek added. “I’ve got a wife and a daughter and if this happened to me, I’d hope that someone would make this effort.”
Rename Baghdad to Maupinland.
the subject of my tag line until Matt is found.
I sure hope they find both of them.
Prayers for all these fine service men and women!
I am so glad to know that they are activly searching for Matt.
G-d bless the searchers and bless the families of the missing and killed
BTTT.
Prayers for the maupin family.
Continuing to pray that Matt may be found and that his family may know the peace that passes understanding while they wait.
I was looking through the thread to see who it was that had his name in their tagline.
Thanks for posting this. Now I know what my Marine has been doing.
prayer bump
My son served in the same company in Iraq with Matt Maupin. My son came home and Matt didn't.
Matt is a son or brother to all of us.
BUMP!
I remember your son mentioning him to me. Prayers for Matt and his family.
BTTT
I didn't know that and that makes him all the more special. My family and I are deeply grateful to your son and Matt Maupin for their service in the defense of our country.
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