For the past eight months, the Oregon Vietnam Memorial Group has been searching military records to identify Oregon and Jerusalem Township residents who died while serving in the Vietnam War. To date, the committee had identified seven men for inclusion on the memorial monument scheduled to begin production this month.

In prior articles that have appeared here in The Press, the Oregon Vietnam Memorial Group listed the seven servicemen who lost their lives as Esiquio Cantu, Scott Corrello, Gerald Corlett, Joseph Gill, Ervin Harris, Arthur Heringhausen, and John Thayer. Just this past week, the group’s chairman Jerry Eversman learned of an eighth soldier who died while in military service in Vietnam.

Army 2nd Lt. John W. Vaughan, who resided at 2217 Pickle Rd., Oregon, died in a plane crash at an airfield in Saigon on June 17, 1967. Lt. Vaughan was raised in Williston, Ohio, and married Marcia Danyi in 1964. Marcia was a graduate of Clay High School. John Vaughan enlisted in the U.S. Army and later became a commissioned officer in November 1966.

Eversman acknowledged the recollection of Bob Burger, a long-time East Toledo and Oregon resident, for remembering Lt. Vaughan’s death in Vietnam. Burger, a veteran of the Army himself, shared this information with Eversman on a chance meeting last week at the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library where both men were researching veterans who died in the Korean War and had ties to the then Oregon and Jerusalem Townships.

With the monument for the Vietnam Veterans scheduled to go into production this week, Eversman is making one final appeal to the public for information on any other Vietnam servicemen who died while serving in Vietnam during the war.

“We want to make sure no one is forgotten on this memorial,” Eversman said. He added, “If anyone knows of another soldier who died in Vietnam we hope they will contact us immediately, before the initial names are forever engraved into the monument.”

The Oregon Vietnam Memorial Group, a committee of Vietnam Veterans and others, will hold a memorial service and dedication ceremony Oct. 18 at Clay Senior High School’s Memorial Stadium. Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur has been invited to deliver the keynote address.

Anyone wishing to share information about Vietnam veterans who should be included on the monument can contact Jerry Eversman at 419-690-0705 or visit the group’s Web site at www.oregonvietnammemorial.com .

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