LOUIS D. VAUGHAN
Posted Friday, March 1, 2013 07:42 AM

REMEMBERING
LOUIS D. VAUGHAN

 

By Joe C. Fling

Does anyone in Colorado County remember Louis Donald Vaughan? This young man died in the Pacific in the fall of 1944, and is included in the War Department’s list of World War II dead from Colorado County, but searches of local courthouse and school records show no signs of the family.

In the Pacific, October 1944 was the month that McArthur returned to the Philippines. Louis Donald Vaughan of Sheridan was killed on October 26, 1944, almost certainly in the fighting for the Philippines. The Philippines were fought over twice in World War II. First when the Japanese captured the islands in the winter and spring of 1942 and again in the fall and winter of 1944-45 when the Americans drove the invaders out.

Vaughan was the son of Jessie Picard Vaughan, who lived in Sheridan at the time of Vaughan’s death. Vaughan was in the United States Navy, serving as a Aviation Radioman 3rd Class. This would no doubt have meant that he was on one of the three-man carrier-based bombers. These planes, including the Dauntless and Avenger dive-bombers, carried a pilot, a gunner and a radioman.

Vaughan’s date of death indicates that he was killed in the fighting immediately after the American landings on Luzon Island. The major air and sea battles, which came to be known as the Battle of Leyte Gulf, were fought there beginning on October 24, 1944. These battles marked the final destruction of the Japanese navy as a viable fighting force. The first fighting was done by American destroyers, but carrier-based planes later became involved and pursued the defeated Japanese fleet as it fled from the battle.

Vaughan was listed by the Navy as “Missing in Action or buried at sea.” Vaughan’s name is included on the Tablets of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery at Manila, the Philippines. This cemetery at Manila is the largest American military cemetery outside of the United States. The cemetery includes the graves of 17,206 American dead, and commemorates another 36,282 missing in action. This one cemetery marks the final resting place of more men than were killed in many of the lesser conflicts and wars fought by the United States.

Vaughan’s name was reported to Colorado County as a war death after the plaque at the Colorado County courthouse was cast, which leads to the conclusion that he may have been listed as missing for an extended time before the final finding of lost at sea or killed in action was made.

Since Vaughan’s name does not appear from any search of local records, perhaps his father had come to Sheridan for employment at Shell, and the family left no lasting record of their presence. I would appreciate any information from any source that would enlighten us on the subject. Where did Vaughan come from? What became of his family? Does anyone remember? The passage of time should not make the sacrifices of life that were made by so many of our young men fade from memory.