Vasco Loureiro enlisted in the AIF under the name Louis Vasco, the name with which he signed all his drawings.

Vasco arrived in France in May 1917 as an engineer with the 11th Field Company.

On 25 May 1918, Vasco was admitted to a field hospital with a spinal cord injury. He was then transferred to England for treatment. He died of meningitis on 3 August 1918 at Napsbury Hospital, Saint Albans, Hertfordshire.

In November 1920, Vasco’s wife, Gwendolyn, sold his drawings and letters to the Library, where they have remained ever since.