Scholarship honors 2 killed in Iraq war
A student at Christian Brothers Academy in Colonie will receive a new scholarship that commemorates two soldiers killed in action in the Iraq war.
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The June scholarship award will commemorate Army Sgt. David Fisher of Watervliet and Staff Sgt. Keith Matt Maupin of Batavia, Ohio.
Carol Pingelski Hotaling of Ballston Spa — the “Yellow Ribbon Lady” — was selected to pick the New York state soldier killed in action to be commemorated through the awarding of the Let Us Never Forget Foundation’s Keith Matt Maupin Scholarship.
Fisher, 21, was killed Dec. 1, 2004, while serving with the state Army National Guard’s 42nd Infantry Division in Iraq. Maupin had been listed as captured from April 9, 2004, until March 20 the Army found and later identified the soldier’s remains.
“I am thrilled they are going to commemorate my son,” said Victoria DiMura of Watervliet, Fisher’s mother. “It’s a great thing the Maupins are doing.”
DiMura said she selected CBA instead of Watervliet High School, where the soldier graduated in 2001, because a Fisher scholarship already exists there.
The foundation expects to award 100 scholarships this year, including one in each state. The other scholarships will commemorate soldiers from Ohio, Illinois and Indiana, Pingelski Hotaling said.
The exact amount of each scholarship depends on donations and the amount of proceeds from a dinner, auction, show and dance slated for Wednesday at the Oasis Conference Center in Loveland, Ohio, Pingelski Hotaling added. Last year’s fundraiser drew more than 1,000 people. The amount of each scholarship was $2,000 in previous years.
Pingelski Hotaling, a former state Senate employee who says she makes large bows from yellow ribbons to signify support for the troops until all return home, has long served as the New York state liaison for the foundation and the Yellow Ribbon Center in Maupin’s hometown. The soldier’s mother, Carolyn Maupin, founded the center just before her son’s Army Reserve 724th Transportation Company deployed to Iraq. Her estranged husband, Keith Maupin, works at the center. Pingelski Hotaling also has done volunteer work there.
Streets of Maupin’s hometown and nearby communities are still decorated with yellow ribbons as a reminder of his and other soldiers’ sacrifices. Hundreds of those yellow ribbons were crafted and shipped to Batavia by Pingelski Hotaling.
Her ribbons have been visible in many Capital Region communities, including Halfmoon, Ballston Spa and Watervliet as well as at send-off and welcome-home rallies for Army and Air National Guard troops, Marines and Army Reserve soldiers.
Pingelski Hotaling said she volunteers “to do something for our country and troops. I believe everyone should live up to what President John F. Kennedy urged, ‘It’s not what your country can do for you, it’s what you can do for your country.’ ”
She also serves as a volunteer for the 42nd Infantry Division Family Readiness Group and other similar organizations.
“I also want to lift up the spirts of our troops by showing support and sending them care packages that can cheer them. There are soldiers who don’t get any letters and packages,” she said. As she spoke she was collecting items and money at Sam’s Club at Latham Farms for care packages for shipment to 42nd Infantry Division’s 27th Brigade Combat Team soldiers on duty in the war in Afghanistan. She also helps package the goods. Each package costs $8.95 to mail.
Also, each of the past three years, through Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, she has prompted the state to proclaim April 9 (Wednesday, the anniversary of Maupin’s capture) as Yellow Ribbon Day.
Pingelski Hotaling has helped organize a Remember All Our Troops event on that day this year beginning at 10:30 a.m. at the Saratoga-Wilton Elks Lodge at 1 Elks Lane, Route 9 North, Wilton. She and Family Readiness Group volunteers will collect care-package items and donations to finance shipment to 42nd Infantry Division troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.
After the Army announced March 30 that Maupin’s remains were recovered, Pingelski Hotaling made 240 large, yellow ribbons that were packaged and shipped by Mail ‘n More of Burnt Hills for use along the streets of Maupin’s hometown during memorial services.
“I was saddened by the news Sgt. Maupin’s remains have been found,” she said. “His mom and dad had hoped he was still alive all these years. But now they can have closure.”
News of your soldiers and units can be sent to Duty Calls, Terry Brown, Times Union, Box 15000, Albany, NY 12212 or by e-mail at brownt@timesunion.com.
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