James Nugent Vaughn was born on February 12, 1906, in Missouri. He was the son of Elizabeth Marion "Bess" Nugent Vaughn and Robert Travis Vaughn Sr. He was married to Georgia Adele Yantis Sulloway. He entered West Point in 1926 and graduated in 1930, choosing the Signal Corps and specializing in telephone communications. In the late 1930s, he commanded the Second Signal Company at Fort Sam Houston, where the Second Division was pioneering the Army’s new triangular division structure. His exceptional work significantly strengthened the division’s communications system.

In 1941, he was sent to the Philippines, serving as Signal Officer of I Corps under General Jonathan Wainwright during the defense of Bataan. Despite shortages of equipment and personnel, and while battling disease and constant bombardment, he maintained communications almost without interruption. After the surrender of Bataan, Vaughn stayed with his men, organizing their surrender to ensure their safety. Held at PW Camp #3 in Old Bilibid Prison, Rizal, and forced onto the Bataan Death March, he continued to sacrifice himself to aid weaker comrades, even sharing food he obtained without keeping any for himself. Near Bacalor, Pampanga, while helping an exhausted soldier, he defied a Japanese guard’s order to abandon the man. For his refusal, he was shot and killed on the roadside.

Maj Vaughn died on April 27, 1942, and is now buried in the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, Manila, Capital District, National Capital Region, Philippines. He also has a cenotaph in the Walnut Grove Cemetery, Paris, Monroe County, Missouri, USA.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, alumni.westpointaog.org, weremember.abmc.gov