Waterloo Times-Tribune
August 10th, 1918

Waterloo Boy Killed

    Corporal James Gordon Vaughan, of Co. B, 168th Infantry, Rainbow division, was addedto Waterloo's roll of honor on July 26, according to a message to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. James R. Vaughan. He died in action on the Frenchfront, according to the official message from Washington.

    Although Corporal Vaughan would not have been twentyyears of age until next month, he was one of Waterloo's "veteran" soldiers. He enlisted in Co. G, First Iowa infantry, June 20, 1916, atthe time of the Mexican trouble. He saw service on the Mexican border and left Waterloo when the Iowa National Guards were called intoservice following the declaration of war upon Germany.

    He remained a member of the Waterloo company untiltransferred to the Rainbow division. He left with that division for France, but shortly after his arrival overseas, Major Clinton Holdenasked for the transfer of Vaughan and several other Waterloo boys. Major Holden is in the quartermaster corps. He remained in that branchof service only a short time and requested that he be transferred to his old company in order that he might see active service. He had beenon the firing line for several months and participated in a number of the most important battles in which the American soldiers have takenpart.

    Like Lt. Carl Chapman and Lt. Fred Becker, twoWaterloo boys killed in action, Corp. Vaughan was a popular athlete. He was a student at West High when the Mexican trouble arose and had oneyear to complete his course. He was a member of the football, basketball and track teams.

    Gordon Vaughan was best known as "Vaughanie."

    He won fame on the battlefield as he did whenbattling for honor of West High. He was a daring athlete and reports from his officers have indicated that he was a brilliant soldier.

    Gordon Vaughan is the first member of the formerWaterloo company to be killed in action in France. At the time of the Mexican trouble scores of Waterloo youths enlisted in the service andwhen the soldier boys left for the Mexican border many of the members of Co. G were boys under 21 years of age.

    A majority of the boys who enlisted at that time arenow overseas. Seventeen members of Gordon Vaughan's class at West High are in the service, as follows:

    Walter Armagost, Harold Becker, Joe Eagle, ErnestHenderson, Lloyd Smith, Harold Fentiman, Robert Nauman, Halsey Beatty, William Bennett, Harold Ferguson, Dillon Thomas, Donald Sindlinger,William Koester, Roland McGuire, Gaylen Green and Donald Hetts.

    James Gordon Vaughan was born in Waterloo Sept. 20,1898. He spent practically his entire life in Waterloo, having attended the West Waterloo schools until he enlisted for service.

    He is survived by parents and one brother, Herbert,who is at the officers training camp at Fort Sheridan, Ill. His grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Edwards and Mrs. Emily P. Vaughan,reside in Waterloo.

    Mr. Vaughan, who is business manager of the DesMoines college, was in Des Moines at the time the message was received. Mrs. Vaughan was at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Edwards.

Waterloo Evening Courier
March 20th, 1925

Resting Place Of Corp. G. Vaughan Found In France

    Identification of the grave of Corporal James GordonVaughan, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Vaughan and grandson of the late A. J. Edwards, has finally been made after searching for more than sixyears, according to a letter from Major R. P. Harbold, assistant quartermaster general of the United States army.

    An identification card enclosed shows the grave isNo. 36, row 8, block A, in the Oise-Aisne American cemetery at Sereges-et-Nesles, Aisne, France.

    Corporal Vaughan was a member of Co. G, One HundredSixty-eights infantry (Rainbow division). He was killed in action July 26, 1918.

    From the first all efforts to identify the body ofCorporal Vaughan were unavailing. He was killed instantly by an exploding shell, his injuries being in the abdomen. Miss Lucy Sullivan,Gordon's eighth grade teacher in the schools of Waterloo west, who is now in the records department of the government at Washington, has beenunceasing in her efforts to bring about identification of the body.

    This was finally done by means of a deformity of theclavicle bone which was broken twice while Gordon was playing football on the West High team in 1914 and 1915.