In 1941, Vaughn joined the United States National Guard for what had been planned as a one-year assignment, but when World War II broke out, he was in for the duration as a valued musician and composer at Camp Shelby, Mississippi.

Major General Daniel I. Sultan decided that Vaughn was too valuable to the base's Thirty-Eighth Division big band, and kept him at Camp Shelby for the duration of the war.

He had apparently learned to barber from his father, because he did some while studying at Western Kentucky to support himself financially, when he was not able to get jobs playing the piano at local night clubs and lounges.

He also charted thirty six albums on the Billboard 200, beginning with 1958's Sail Along Silv'ry Moon and ending with 1970's Winter World of Love.

These included "Lili Marlene", "Zwei Gitarren am Meer", "Blueberry Hill" (Germany), and "Greenfields".

Also successful were "Song of Peace", "It's a Lonesome Old Town" (Japan), "Michelle" (no 1 in Argentina and Malaysia), "Mexico" (no.

1 in the Philippines), and "Bonanza" (a major success in Brazil and Italy[5]) plus "Theme from the Dark at the Top of the Stairs" (various Latin American countries).