HUGE MAUPIN FAREWELL IN CINCY

AP:

Military workers and supporters from across the country joined in memorials Sunday for a slain Army reservist who had become a poignant picture of the war in Iraq after he was captured by insurgents.

Thousands walked past Staff Sgt. Matt Maupin's casket during a daylong visitation at a civic center in Clermont County, east of Cincinnati, where he grew up. Many of them headed to Great American Ball Park, home of the Cincinnati Reds, for an afternoon memorial service.

The crowd occupied the lower portion of the 42,000-seat stadium, behind home plate, stretching from first base to third.

Maupin's flag-draped casket was on a platform in the area of the pitcher's mound. The only people on the field were members of the 338th Army band and about 100 family members, military representatives and dignitaries.

"Matt Maupin was the all-American kid," said retired Lt. Gen. James Campbell, representing the Army at the service. "We are so proud of you. You have served your country with honor and distinction."

CINCY ENQUIRER:

Before the Army band began playing hymns, before the VIPs took their seats, before the crowd that waited for hours began to filter into the ballpark, there was only a lonesome flag-draped casket on a platform, with two soldiers standing guard at each end.

For a few minutes, the nearly empty stadium became as quiet as a church. A young woman in black was slowly escorted to the front of the platform by a soldier in dress uniform. He stood back as she approached Staff Sgt. Matt Maupin’s coffin. She put her face in her hands and wept.

For all of us.

Then she gave Matt a slow final salute.

For all of us.

There were many moments of heart-breaking beauty during the services that followed, as fleeting as the white doves that flew over the crowd in the hazy afternoon sunlight.

There were stirring words of inspiration, followed by aching sadness that puts a lump in your throat and keeps it there -- such as the WWII airplanes that flew by in the missing-man formation, then rejoined to symbolize Matt’s final homecoming.

There was a celebration of his life, in his family’s words and in snapshots on the big screen: Matt as a baby in a sleeper decorated with a rocket ship; playing in piles of leaves; wearing a bath-towel Superman cape; with a new bike, with Santa, beloved dogs, in a football uniform, at the prom, graduation, Army uniform, in a Humvee in Iraq. And then the picture we know too well. The one taken by his terrorist captors after his convoy was ambushed near Baghdad in 2004: he stares at the camera in his floppy camo hat, trying not to show fear in the midst of evil.

There was also an emotional tribute to Matt’s family. The crowd stood to applaud Keith and Carolyn Maupin, who have endured crushing fear for four long years, showing the world only grace and dignity.

“There are almost no words to describe how much I admire them,” said Tracy Johnston of Mount Orab, - who got to know the Maupins because her husband, Scott, - was in Iraq when Matt was captured.

The Maupins turned their devastating loss into love, by doing for all soldiers what they longed to do for their missing son. They shipped care packages to thousands of troops. And their son’s funeral also honored all who have served America and now “stand point for our country, look evil in the eye and refuse to blink,” said Lt. Gen. James Campbell.

A GREAT AMERICAN. AND A GREAT AMERICAN FAMILY.

GOD BLESS THEM ALL - AND ALL OUR TROOPS AND THEIR FAMILIES.

MORE LATER...

*******UPDATE: PUNDITARIAN ADDS:

This was a great and very moving memorial. We were there. I will have more later.

Just a quick thought now.

One thing struck me.

Several speakers, the Army Recruiter who processed Matt's enlistment and the retired LTG who was staff chief for the Army during most of his years as missing, and I think one of the Chaplains - noted that Matt had sworn a solemn oath to "defend the Constitution of the United States."

That's worthy of keeping in mind. Our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines do not swear only to protect a sovereign, or a government, or a territory, but also the way of life which is enshrined in the founding documents of our Nation.

Our elected officials also take that oath.

And it is in the course of defending the Constitution, that our armed services defend our country, our people, and our freedom -- and extend that freedom, so that a people long under the heel of a vicious tyranny now have the chance -- the chance -- to make a free life for themselves.

There is no higher service.

All of the fruits of our freedom, all of the fruits of our economy, all of the riches and glories of this Nation, and the result of the oaths taken by those brave men and women who have resolved to defend our Constitution. The bridges that span our rivers, the skyscrapers that grace our cities, the highways, the rail lines, the airports -- these are not only the products of engineers and builders, they are also the products of warriors.

Our universities and colleges, our art museums and symphony halls -- these are not solely the products of our artistic and educated elites, they are the results achieved by our warriors.

It is only in the time and space of peace and freedom that is won, achieved, and defended by men at arms, that any of those accomplishments could have been created.

It is for our very civilization, and our very civilized life, themselves, that we must thank Staff Sergeant Matt Maupin and other heroes like him.

Indeed.