PFC Leon A Vaughn - Kansas City MO

[huntssurplus]

 

here is his name in the US Rosters of World War II dead.

[huntssurplus]

 

I actually paid for his record from the archives, but his record was destroyed in the fire. I did receive two pages though detailing his casualty report. Not exactly sure what it means by the wound being detailed to be in the eye.

 

 

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[huntssurplus]

 

I have a letter sent to him from his wife postmarked November 6th as you can see it was sent back. The letter is unopened and I plan to leave it unopened. Very upsetting to think what might be contained in the letter. Words best left alone.

 

I also have some pictures, from his poses to what he wrote on them he seemed to be quite the jokester. With nicknames some as “Hobo Vaughn” and “long neck and pan neck”

 

 

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[huntssurplus]

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Here is the last letter he sent before he went into combat on Anguar Island. I have a few more letters and pictures from him as well which I can photograph if requested. One of the letters he sent was actually left unopened, i guess it must have been late to arrive, I believe it was from August.

 

 

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[huntssurplus]

I have some more research as well, including pictures of his marriage license and a few other things. Archives unfortunately didn't give me much. If anyone wanted a rough list of his awards they would have been:

Purple Heart

American Campaign

Asiatic-Pacific Campaign with one battle star

World War II Victory

 

Most likely he would have qualified for a Good Conduct as well, but I am unsure.

 

If anyone is curious on the original thread I believe there are more photos of another part of the grouping there: http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/323817-pfc-leon-vaughn-letter-kia-angaur-island-1944-on-ebay/

 

A big thanks for starting this, really nice to finally be able to put the whole story back together again!

 

Hunt

[Pegasus6]

So glad we can all share their memory. I guess I bring to the table the following: his enlisted-mens Pass for October 2nd - 4th of 1944 (short honeymoon), I found the marriage license/certificate 3 October 1943, which is why I acquired the pass. Cheers to happy times... This really nice larger photo of Audrey and Leon, and a signed photo of Leon to Audrey. The set of letters I have are his October 9th letter home (mentions a pause in the battle, first bath in the ocean, how horrible the fighting is how much he misses and loves her, and her last letter sent prior to notification 11 November. She mentions getting photos taken of their Son to send soon, how much she loves him and cant wait to be with him. I pulled the morning report from NARA from his company showing his killed in action. I have the official letter from the war department confirming the telegram notification (does anyone have that telegram?) I have a letter from the VFW sending regards to Audrey. I am happy to post photos of each page of their letters. For now I just posted the cover photo. Amazing to see all of this together, thank you for putting up this post in the groupings Wildcat.

 

pt1

[Pegasus6]

pt 2

[Pegasus6]

pt3

[Pegasus6]

pt4 Also adding a photo of the battle, the last pocket was that Northwest corner which was the most rugged part of the island. As I saw in one of the other documents, it was climbing a height where he was killed, that last pocket. He sounds like he was a remarkable young man.

[wildcat123]

Thanks guys for sharing your parts of the group, really brings the whole story together. Been trying to figure out which park they are in in Kansas City in that picture... I grew up in the area, but haven't been able to narrow it down yet.

[BigJohn#3RD]

Thank you all for posting the story of this young man who died before he really had a chance to live. God Bless him and all who died fighting for our freedom and the liberation of others.

RIP Soldier