Welver Charles Vaughan
Corporal Welver C. Vaughan served with Love Company, Third Battalion, 2nd Marines.
He was killed in action at Betio, Tarawa atoll, on 20 November 1943.
Branch
Marine Corps Regular
Service Number 357429
Current Status
ACCOUNTED FOR
September 15, 2023
Pursuit Category
Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Official profile
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
February 18, 1918
at Walters, MN
Parents
Charles Burwell Vaughan
Alma (Gaines) Vaughan
Education
Grammar school
Occupation & Employer
Farmer
Otto Ahneman farm, Walters, MN
Service Life
Entered Service
January 12, 1942
at Minneapolis, MN
Home Of Record
Walters, MN
Next Of Kin
Mother, Mrs. Alma Vaughan
Military Specialty
—
Primary Unit
L/3/2nd Marines
Campaigns Served
Solomon Islands
Tarawa
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
—
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
Corporal Welver Vaughan served with Love Company, 2nd Marines during the Solomon Island campaigns and in the battle of Tarawa.
On 20 November 1943, Vaughan’s battalion was assigned the task of spearheading the assault on Betio’s Beach Red One – a curved stretch of sand running several hundred yards from the “bird’s beak” in the west to Red Two in the east. The natural shape of the beach created a crossfire for the defenders, and the area became known as “the Pocket.” Slow-moving landing craft were quickly targeted from multiple angles, and many were knocked out as they approached the shore. Hundreds of men were killed or wounded before stepping foot on dry land. Those who survived faced a network of obstacles manned by determined Japanese defenders, and the fighting was close-in and savage.
Love Company, designated as the battalion reserve and embarked in boats instead of tractors, faced an especially horrific ordeal. “LCVs grounded on the reef about 500 yards from the beach and [the men] disembarked into the water,” states the battalion report. “They were heavily hit both by machine gun and large caliber fire while in the water. Most of the fire came from the left, so as a consequence , the company landed on the right half of Beach Red 1. The casualties to this company at this time amounted to about 35%.”
Corporal Vaughan was one who fell during the landing operation. He was shot in the head and killed somewhere in the vicinity of Beach Red One on 20 November, at the age of twenty-five.
Burial Information or Disposition
After the battle, Corporal Vaughan’s body was found, identified, and transported to the East Division Cemetery for burial. Contemporary records indicate that he was laid to rest in Row A, Grave #19. In the months that followed, the East Division Cemetery was “beautified” by Navy garrison troops who erected memorial crosses in place of the original markers. The place was renamed “Cemetery 33,” and while Vaughan had a new marker emplaced at Grave 14, Row 2, Plot 3, it bore no relation to where his remains were actually buried. In 1946, the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company exhumed the graves of Cemetery 33, but were unable to identify any remains as Welver Vaughan.
In 2010, a Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command team working on Tarawa received some human remains from the local police. A resident digging on his property had discovered the bones, and additional remains and evidence were collected by JPAC. Unfortunately, they were not able to establish an identification, and the remains were placed in storage for over a decade.
The 2010 find was reexamined by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), and on 15 September 2023, they officially announced a positive match for Welver Vaughan.
Memorials
CENOTAPHS
Honolulu Memorial, Tablets Of The Missing
FINAL BURIAL
Inurned at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaii (on 2 December 2025)
Next Of Kin Address
Address of mother, Mrs. Alma Vaughan.
Location Of Loss
Corporal Vaughan’s battalion was engaged in the vicinity of Beach Red One.
