The Soldier's Details

Surname:
Vaughan
First Name:
Frank
Nick Name:
also known as Frank PETERS
Rank:
Private
Regimental #:
WX5932
Classification:
Cook
Company:
‘B’ Company Headquarters, No. 8 Platoon
Enlisted:
29.06.1940
DOB:
8.11.1910
Place of Birth:
Surrey, England
Father's Name:
Frank Vaughan
Mothers's Name:
Eliza Jane Vaughan (nee Carter) remarried Peters
Religion:
Church of England
Pre-war Occupation:
Farmhand
Memorial:
Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, Plot 1, Row E, Grave 39, Age 33.
Singapore:
Selarang Camp Changi
Force:
‘A’ Force Burma, Green Force, No. 3 Battalion
Camps Thailand:
Tamarkan
Camps Burma:
Victoria Point, Ye, Kendau, Thetkaw, Khonkan 55km (evacuated from Meiloe 3.7.1943)
POW#:
1473
Cause of Death:
Malaria and Dysentery
Place of Death:
Tamarkan
Date of Death:
1.04.1944
Buried:
Grave G3, Tamarkan

General Description

Frank Vaughan was also legally known as Frank Peters as his mother remarried when he was a young child.
Frank enlisted AIF 30 June 1940 and later joined 2/4th MGB’s ‘B’ Company Headquarters, No 8 Platoon as a cook.
Height 5′ 5″
Funeral service conducted by Padre J. K. W. Matheson. At Ye, Burma.  He was admitted to the Dutch ward on 28.9.1942. Transferred to the Australian ward on 10.10.1942.
According to Ron Badock, Frank Vaughan was the first to cook bread at Changi.
Frank was selected to work on the Burma end of Burma-Thai Railway and sailed from Singapore with 3,000 Australian POWs about May 1942 for south west Burma to firstly work on repairing and expanding airfields before heading north to the rail link.
Please read further about ‘A’ Force Green Force No. 3 Battalion
At Ye aerodrome he was admitted sick to the Dutch ward on 28 Sep 1942 and later transferred to the Australian ward on 10 Oct 1942.
When the rail was completed towards end of 1943, the POWs working in Burma were all evacuated south to Thailand to one of several large Camps.   Frank was evacuated from Khonkan Hospital Camp, and moved to Tamarkan.  He died at Tarmarkan Hospital Camp 1 April 1944 of malaria and dysentery aged 32 years.
Photograph taken January 2018. C. Mellor
Please read other other Wyalkatchem men who died
Frank Vaughan (Snr) married Eliza Jane Carter in 1901 Horsham, Sussex, England.  Frank born in Surrey, England had 3 older sisters, Alice, Gladys and Marjory.  In 1911 his father Frank Vaughan (Snr) died.
Eliza Vaughan remarried to Peters and had further 2 children.
In 1924 Frank was recorded with his mother (Eliza Peters), Ethel and Phyllis Peters and his older Vaughan sisters arriving in Fremantle about May 1914 on ‘Armadale’ when he was about 3-4 years old.
Above:  ‘Armadale’ shipping list.
The family settled in Wyalkatchem.
Above:  Frank’s stepfather William Ernest Peters died Dec 1931.

 

 

 

In Dec 1935 Frank married Bertha Gangell and the couple had a son Clive Douglas Vaughan born in 1937 and died 1967.

 

Below: In 1952, Clive is one of 21 Legacy children to visit Bridgetown.

 

Bertha Vaughan died 29 September 2002 at Mt Hawthorn at the age of 90, and is buried at Karrakatta.
Clive Vaughan died 3 May 1967 aged 29 years at Morley and is also buried at Karrakatta near his mother.  (Anglican PC 0293 and 0294).
Frank’s mother Eliza Peters died 18 June 1960 aged 79 years at Mosman Park and is buried at Karrakatta.

 

 

Above: Probate notice showing Frank using both Peters and Vaughan surname, as does his marriage notice.

 

A

Above:  From Beattie collection Newspaper dated 22 April 1987

 

Camp Locations:

  • Selarang Camp Changi - Singapore
  • Tamarkan, Tha Makham 56k - Thailand
  • Kendau, Kandaw, 4 Kilo - Burma
  • Khonkan, 55Kilo Hospital 360k - Burma
  • Meilo, 75 Kilo, 340k - Burma
  • Ye - Burma
  • Victoria Point, Kawthoung - Burma. \'A\' Force, Green Force No. 3 Btn
  • Thetkaw 14 Kilo - Burma
Back