PHM2c William Frank Vaughan

William Frank Vaughan was a pharmacist’s mate and petty officer second class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

He was survived by his wife, Madeline Dickerhoof Vaughan, and their 18-month-old daughter, as well as by his parents, Joseph Vaughan and Emily Sargeant Vaughan. They were English immigrants.

William was born June 22, 1913 in New York state. The family moved to Santa Monica, California after 1919. The 1930 Census said the father was a janitor and the mother a homemaker. William attended Santa Monica High School for four years. He first enlisted in the Navy about 1933. His mother died in 1934 and his only sibling, Robert, in a motorcycle accident in 1939.

In 1939 William earned $908, the equivalent of about $16,600 in 2022 dollars. His last re-enlistment was on June 14,1941.

Sources: The Santa Monica (California) Evening Outlook; the Wilmington (California) Daily Press; Census; grave markers; immigrant record; Navy muster roll; Social Security. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.