My Father, Alec P. Vaughan, Jr. was admitted to the United States Army during WWII on May 14, 1942. His job was listed as a typist and clerk. His job was to type and file orders and information on soldiers on the battle field. It was his records that sent soldiers into battle or shifted them from one area to another. Too, he was responsible for writing letters to mothers and wives when a soldier was lost on the battle field.
All through his time in the war, he hand-carried a Remington typewriter in a wooden case which opened out with the click of 2 snaps on either side of its case. Because of the various equipment needed for correspondence on the battle field, he was given an assistant to help him carry on and perform written duties for the Army.
There are various photographs of Dad on the battle field, in Europe and Germany and thankfully he returned home in one piece and with an honorable discharge. He left the war in December of 1945 and returned to marry my Mother in Jacksonville, Florida that same month.
Truly, he was an honorable man. He often told us of looking forward to his life with our mother such that he would save every paycheck to send to her in looking forward to their lives together after the war. He told of so many men in the Army who would receive their paycheck and spend every dime out on the town but for him, the hope of a wife and family was his focus. He spoke often of his love for our Mother and how he wrote to her every day. We have found many of the letters he sent.
While he received an “Honorable Discharge” from the United States Army, it was his life to us that was honorable. As far as I know, my father was completely and utterly faithful to my mother all of the days of their lives. When my mother died at the age of 49, he was devastated. We all were. His love for her was clean, pure and good. He was lost.
Some years later, he took out a former friend for coffee who had lost her husband and too was devastated. The two hit it off and before we all knew it, were seeing each other on a regular basis. They married and he was faithful only unto her the rest of his days. They cared about one another. They loved one another and for almost 40 years had the finest of times.
Our father passed from life into eternity in April of 2015. We were sorrowful of his home-going but grateful for the honorable 94 year old life he lived before our eyes. He left this life, one of honor and integrity and gave each of his children and grandchildren a legacy proud.
