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Lance-corporal John Edgar Vaughan, service number 26344
This studio portrait shows Lance-corporal John Edgar Vaughan, service number 26344, of 'C' Company, 17th Reinforcements, NZEF.
John was born in 1896 at Waimea South, Nelson. John embarked for the Great War on the 19th of January 1917 from Wellington aboard the Ulimaroa, bound for Plymouth. At the time he had been working as a farmer and was unmarried. John listed his father, A.H. Vaughan of Waitapu, Takaka, as his next-of-kin.
John fought in the 3rd Battle of Ypres, in and around Passchendaele. On 16 October 1917, during the New Zealand Division's offensive to secure the Abraham Heights he was wounded and gassed . Later he was also reported to have contracted diphtheria and in November 1918 he spent time recovering in Brockenhurst Hospital. He was transferred to the Convalescent Depot in Hornchurch, England on 15 January 1918.
After the war John lived at Waitapu in the Pupu Springs area of Takaka, Tasman Bay. He lived in the Takaka area all his life and became a Justice of the Peace. He was married three times and had one son to his first wife Gladys Irene Rose who he married in 1926 at St Andrews Presbyterian church in Takaka. John died in 1987 aged 90 and was survived by his son and seven grandchildren.