“My breathing apparatus was shut completely. It was just as if someone was strangling me."
-Captain Vaughan describing a gas attack
Captain Harry Briggs Vaughan, from Norfolk, Virginia, graduated from VPI in 1910 with a degree in Civil Engineering. While at VPI, Vaughan was a member of the VPI football team, the GERMAN Club, and was in the Corps of Cadets regimental band (today known was the Highty Tighties).
During World War I, Captain Vaughan served in the American Expeditionary Force with the 306th Engineers in the 81st “Wild Cat” Division. During the Meuse-Argonne Offensive from September 26 to November 11, 1918, Captain Vaughan was cited for “gallant and meritorious conduct” during the offensive.
During the Meuse-Argonne his unit suffered heavy causalities, and Vaughan was among the 40 in his unit who were wounded during a gas attack. Vaughn described the experience in a letter, writing that "I will never forget that experience. I have gotten into gas but never in any as dense as this. My breathing apparatus was shut completely. It was just as if someone was strangling me."
Vaughn spent five days in recovery until he rejoined his unit, fighting until the armistice on November 11, 1918.