Hometown Hero: Local group honors fallen Vietnam soldiers
Harry Vaughan never knew what hit him.
Alive one instant, he was killed in a flash the next when his armored personnel carrier was obliterated by a giant land mine in Vietnam — eight months after he’d graduated from Milton High School in 1967.
“It was an incredible fluke,” said Jerry Jaworski, 67, of Longmont, Colo., who was driving an APC just behind Vaughan’s on the morning of March 7, 1968 southeast of Saigon.
It was almost the other way around. Jaworski had been “on point” when officers noticed he had a second lieutenant on board and ordered Vaughan to get in front, “so he hit it instead of me. It ripped Harry’s APC to pieces and killed three or four other guys.”
Jaworski will be one of the keynote speakers May 22 at Milton High when the Atlanta Vietnam Veterans Business Association holds its 28th annual memorial for a fallen Atlanta-area victim of Vietnam. Plans call for a Huey helicopter to be parked on the football field. Choppers and other aircraft may fly over.
Also in attendance will be Andy Vaughan, 63, of Cumming, Harry’s younger brother, several other siblings and their spouses, and hundreds of others.
“I think it’s quite an honor,” said Andy Vaughan. “I saw what this group did last year when they honored a soldier at Marist. That was really impressive to me.”
He and Jaworski have met several times and visited Harry’s grave at the Hopewell Baptist Church. Jaworski took some soil from his friend’s gravesite on a trip to the place in Vietnam where Harry was killed, then brought dirt back from there to spread near his headstone.
Other speakers will include former B-52 navigator and POW Robert Certain, who retired recently as rector of St. Peter and St. Paul Episcopal Church in Marietta.
Retired Col. Ronnie Rondem of Atlanta, head of the AVVBA memorial committee, said it takes all year to locate a man from the area who died in Vietnam, find family members, obtain permission, then raise money for a large stone and plaque. This year’s stone cost $2,800 and the bronze plaque $3,100, said retired Col. Rick Lester.
AVVBA members Herb Saunders and Bill Lusk, a member of the Milton City Council, inherited the task of securing helicopters and planes from the late “Air Marshal” Don Pardue, who had arranged all previous flyovers and was planning this year’s when he died March 2 of cancer.
Saunders said “we’ve got big shoes to fill” due to the death of Pardue, who made sure flyovers occurred precisely on schedule.
Rondem said the ceremony will also feature a color guard and firing squad from Fort Benning, buglars and a bagpiper.
Jaworski, who has four sons, said he and Harry Vaughan were best friends.
“Harry took my place on the (Vietnam) Wall because he took my place on point,” said Jaworski. Though nervous at the prospect of making a speech, “it’s the least I can do. Most of us came home and went about our business. Harry never had the chance, never married, never had kids. What a shame.”
