Notes from India 1942

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor Vaughn decided he could best serve his country by enlisting in the Army Air Corps. He had been offered a job which, had he accepted it, would have allowed him to remain in North Carolina managing the production of military uniforms for Hanes Mills in Winston-Salem. Instead, he was trained to assist in the decoding of enemy communications. He left Greensboro by rail for the west coast where he boarded a large troop ship carrying 4200 soldiers to Bombay, India. To reach the American base in Chabua he needed an Indian guide. This is the story of his journey from Bombay to the American base, his trek through the jungle with Mahon, and several situations he encountered after his arrival at Chabua. He was 26 years old when he wrote this journal. It records how he was, in turn, astonished, thrilled, touched, inspired and horrified by what he experienced. Last year in 2014, when Vaughn celebrated 98 years, he found the original yellowed handwritten pages. What you will read here is his story.