Marines Help Search for Army Sgt. Keith M. Maupin

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Marine Corps News | Gysgt. Mark Oliva | July 27, 2006

Gharmah, Iraq - The search for Army Sgt. Keith M. Maupin continued in Regimental Combat Team 5’s area of operations recently.

A team of Marines, U.S. Army and British soldiers fanned out across several sites to search for the remains of the soldier missing for more than two years. The team searched in two separate locations in this town north of Fallujah. Marines from 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment assisted in the search.

Maupin is the only missing U.S. servicemember from Operation Iraqi Freedom. Navy Capt. Michael Scott Speicher, shot down during Operation Desert Storm, is the only other missing U.S. servicemember in Iraq. This search marked the 86th separate site searchers combed through looking for any sign of Maupin.

A single, surface-laid bone was found. It was about six inches long, found at the second survey site. The single bone was bagged, labeled and shipped from Camp Fallujah to Balad Air Base and eventually delivered to Dover Air Force Base, Md. Tests there by experts later proved the bone was not that of Maupin’s, but that of an animal.

Still, no efforts are wasted in locating the missing soldier.

“This is very important for us to do this,” said Army Chief Warrant Officer 5 Steven J. Nesbit, a 49-year-old member of the Personnel Recovery Detachment from Multi-National Corps-Iraq in Baghdad. “Any Coalition member lives by that creed that we never leave anyone behind.”

Maupin was taken captive by insurgents April 9, 2004 near Abu Ghraib, after his convoy was attacked. He was show in insurgent propaganda films in uniform and later, insurgents claimed to have shot and killed the soldier. The clip, shot under night vision, was grainy and unclear and experts were never able to verify if the shooting victim was, in fact, Maupin.

It was the second time searchers from MNCI came to RCT-5’s area to search for remains. Searchers arrived in March and searched two sites south of Fallujah with Marines from 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. At least two sets of remains were dug from crude graves on a desert hilltop in that search. Tests conducted after that search revealed that they were not that of Maupin.

Marines secured the sites, the first being across the street in a field nearly the dimensions of a football field. It was across the street from a mosque and bordered by a road on one side and a canal on the other. It was boxed in on the ends by a thin hedgerow and driveway. Palm trees dotted the plot that appeared to have been used for agriculture.

The search was brought in there by intelligence given from a source, according to Army Sgt. 1st Class James Haftmann, a member of the MNCI Personnel Recovery Detachment. Further intelligence, he explained, indicated the mosque had ties to Maupin’s kidnapping.

“The mosque was reported to have had weapons that were involved in Maupin’s convoy,” Haftmann explained. “The area was identified as one that needed to be searched.”

Haftmann explained earlier that the Personnel Recovery Detachment follows up on nearly every source. They don’t want to miss the opportunity to find Maupin’s remains and despite coming up empty, they are still netting results.

“We never stop looking,” Haftmann said.

Each time they learn recovered remains aren’t Maupin’s or suspected sites hold nothing, they know that’s one area that doesn’t hold back secrets.

Marines blocked off roads and fanned out to secure the site. They patrolled nearby neighborhoods, while the search team went to work. British soldiers – Sgt. Darrell S. Cooper, a 33-year-old from Manchester, England, Lance Cpl. James A. Riley, a 22-year-old from Brisbane, England and Sapper Barry G. Clynes, a 19-year-old from Hemel Hempstead, England – used ground-penetrating radar. They dragged the device over the field, searching for disturbances beneath the surface. The first site yielded no clues.

The British soldiers were from Joint Forces (United Kingdom) Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group, 35 Engineer Regiment, based in Paderborn, England. They were brought up from Basra to assist in the search.

“Being Coalition Forces, we want to help you find him,” Riley explained. “We understand how troops feel. We want to do the best job we can to find him”

The team moved with another group of Marines further north along an irrigation canal. The second search site was part of an earlier search that was never completed, Haftmann said. Marines once again, blocked traffic and pushed out to provide security for the search team. Three separate areas were marked off for scanning and radar revealed that some disturbances were detected underneath the sand.

Marine engineers drove in a backhoe and dug. Nothing of significance was found.

Haftmann said the search for Maupin is a labor of loyalty. It’s an entire team of analysts, planners down to the Marines providing security who want to do their part to bring Maupin home.

“All the people put their heart and soul into this,” said Haftmann, a 38-year-old from Charleston, S.C. “They want closure. They want to say they did something good.”

Haftmann offered special praise for the Marines on the line, keeping him safe while he searched.

“These guys risk their lives,” he said. “They get shot at just because we want to dig a hole. Everyone who played a part should be proud.”

Nesbit explained the thought of Maupin’s family is what drives him to keep looking. He said he often tried to understand the emptiness he said they must experience without having final answers. For that reason, he drives on looking for answers on Maupin.

“I try to think how they would feel,” he said

The only tangible clue Marines, soldiers and British soldiers found was the single bone, splintered into fragments. Haftmann sealed it, logged in its location and prepared it for the long flight to Dover. He said the toughest part is waiting to find out if the bones match.

In the meantime, they wait and plan. There are more leads to follow and more sources who tell them they think they know where Maupin’s remains are buried.

“If that one bone turned out to be his, we’d go dig up the whole countryside to get the rest of the bones,” Nesbit said.

“We know where he’s not,” Haftmann said. “But we won’t stop the search. We continue. We’re never stopping until we find him.”

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