Joe R. Vaughan Memorial - Sanger Cemetery - Sanger, TX
N 33° 21.561 W 097° 09.680
14S E 671072 N 3692635
Besides serving as the headstone for Joe W. Vaughan in Sanger Cemetery, this grave marker also is a memorial to his son, Joe R. Vaughan, who was a victim of the Bataan Death March, dying on April 12, 1942, just days after his capture.
Waymark Code: WMN26K
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 12/11/2014
Views: 8
Sergeant Joe R. Vaughan served in the Antitank Company of the 31st Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army, a member of the defense forces that General Douglas MacArthur moved to the Bataan Peninsula after Japanese forces invaded the Philippines in late 1941. The hope was that these forces could hold out until relief could be sent, but unfortunately, a Japanese siege squashed those hopes, and 60,000 Filipinos and 15,000 Americans were captured. We do not know Sergeant Vaughn's fate, as he is listed as missing/buried at sea, most likely a fallen casualty along the Bataan Death March. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal, and his name is listed on a monument to the missing at Fort William McKinley in Manila.
There is some interesting reading here about some of the others who suffered at the hands of the Japanese, and Sergeant Vaughan is mentioned. (
visit link)