On Veteran’s Day, we are reminded to show our gratitude to those brave men and women who served our country through military service. We are even more grateful and indebted to those who not only served our nation but returned home to serve our community.
Larry Vaughan grew up in the Brockport community, graduating from Brockport High School in 1967. He attended MCC to study Fire Science during the time the Vietnam War was cranking up and young men were being drafted. While in college, Larry’s draft card was a 4F, which prevented him from being drafted. That status changed after he finished college. Vaughan was working at Atlantic Pacific in Brockport and volunteering at the Brockport Fire Department in May of 1969 when he received his draft notice and order to report. “Things got real,” said Vaughan.
On July 13, 1969, Larry said goodbye to his parents as he boarded a bus to the draft station in Buffalo. After being processed, Vaughan was sent to Fort Dix in New Jersey for basic training in the US Army. He was assigned as a rifleman to an infantry unit. “I was a hunter and good with guns,” commented Vaughan.
After basic training and Advanced Individual Training at Ft. Lewis in Washington, Vaughan received his orders that he was being deployed to the war zone of Vietnam. He was able to come home for two weeks in December to see his family before deploying. “It was tough being home and seeing everyone. I was gone for six months already, and things changed,” recalls Vaughan.
Vaughan returned to Ft. Lewis to process for this deployment. He received inoculations, uniforms, and jungle fatigues and prepared his will before being sent to war-torn Vietnam. Vaughan recalls how hot, humid, and black the nights were in Vietnam. “All night long, we would hear air raid sirens, and I said to myself, ‘This is real.’”
Vaughan was assigned to the 196th Infantry Brigade. Surrounded by strangers, he lived in the bush, assigned the job of looking for and preventing the opposition from infiltrating South Vietnam. “They were tough enemies,” he said. Most of Vaughan’s movements were at night. They would push through the jungle terrain in the valleys, looking for potential ambush sites. The conditions were harsh. “The elephant grass would cut our skin and lead to infections. Our socks were wet all the time, and we would take one bath a week in a stream,” he described.
After surviving 11 months and three days in the jungle warfare of Vietnam, his deployment was over. He returned to Ft. Lewis and then came home for a 30-day leave.
After his leave, he returned to Ft. Hood in Texas to finish his two-year commitment. “We played war games,” chuckled Vaughan when asked what he did in the remainder of his enlistment back in the States.
Larry returned home to Brockport in 1971 and resumed his role in the Brockport Fire Department. He also took a new job working in the village of Brockport as an emergency dispatcher. In July of 1971, Larry met his wife, Barbara (Unger). “I knew her brother, and we met at a firemen’s event. I did not think it was going to work because we had a big gap in ages,” he laughed. They married in September 1972 and had their daughter, Kim, in 1973.
Upon his return to civilian life, Vaughan continued serving but in the capacity of directly serving his community. He has held numerous emergency service positions throughout his lifetime. He has served as lieutenant, captain, assistant chief, deputy chief, fire chief, ambulance lieutenant, warden, hose company president, apparatus driver, EMT, fire commissioner, and more. Vaughan served at both the Brockport and Ridge Road fire districts. “The military experience helped me to better understand authority and how to follow orders,” said Vaughan. In addition to his career in firefighting, he was continually active in committees and fire service associations, as well as fallen firefighter fundraisers and community groups.
In 1992, Vaughan was undergoing a routine physical for the Ridge Road Fire District. The physician noticed that his liver enzymes were elevated. Larry’s physician, Dr. Hari Garg, referred him to a specialist in Gastroenterology and Hepatology, and he eventually ended up at Strong Memorial Hospital. Here, Vaughan met a doctor who was investigating the impact of Agent Orange on Vietnam veterans.
Agent Orange was a tactical herbicide used by the US military during the Vietnam War to kill and control vegetation. It got its name from the orange stripe painted on the storage containers. During the Vietnam War, the government commissioned chemical companies to manufacture Agent Orange. It was eventually banned in the early 1970s when it was discovered that the chemical (dioxin) was carcinogenic. More than 100,000 US Military Vietnam veterans have been impacted by this carcinogen. It was sprayed from the planes in the jungles of Vietnam to function as a defoliant. Larry recalls, “Planes would spray it to open up the jungle near our firebase to kill vegetation. In two days after spraying, it would look like fall. Everything was drenched in that chemical.”
After many tests, scans, and evaluations, Vaughan was told he would need a liver transplant someday. For several years, he was monitored closely with routine ultrasounds every four months, and his condition continued to deteriorate. In February 2018, a tumor in his liver was discovered. His illness was progressing rapidly. “Everyone thought I was dying,” said Larry. He was assigned to a liver transplant group the following month and began radiation treatment. Fluid retention became a big issue, leading to regular trips to the hospital.
As he waited, hoping for a life-saving liver transplant, the decision was made to move up the date of his Honor Flight trip. The clock was ticking on Larry’s life, and finding a match for a liver transplant was becoming dire.
In June 2018, 69-year-old Vaughan was part of mission #60 Honor Flight Rochester. “As sick as I was, this was the most awesome 36 hours of my life,” he said. “My welcome home was so special! The airport was flooded.”
On January 17, 2019, Larry got a call from the transplant team to come right to the hospital. He did not get his hopes up, as he knew this did not necessarily mean he was getting a transplant. He arrived at the hospital that afternoon, and at 11 p.m., he was notified of the news that he would be getting a liver transplant that night. Ten hours of surgery later, Vaughan had a new liver, and the transplant was a success.
After being on the front lines of combat and front lines as a first responder, Larry understands just how fragile life is. “Most of us only get one chance, and, for some reason, I got a second.” Vaughan has not met the family of the person who donated their liver to him but hopes someday he can.
Larry developed life-long attributes from his military training and experience. “Vietnam gave me grit and toughness I would not have gotten any other way. The Army made me better in so many ways.”
Vaughan, now 74 years young, is retired but remains active in various community and firefighting organizations. He and his wife reside in Brockport, and his daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren live in North Carolina.
Larry Vaughan spent most of his life being the person who helps save lives, but now he is on the receiving end and forever indebted to the person who chose to save a life with theirs. “I am truly fortunate to have had this second chance to live thanks to an organ donor, and I want to encourage others to consider being an organ donor. It is life-saving,” said Larry.
Visit http://www.donatelifenys.org for more information on organ donation. One person can save eight lives through organ donation.
