To serve those who have served - the Arsenal Award
2006 Recipient Nick Bacon
Nick
Bacon is one of only twenty-five Arkansans to receive the Medal of Honor
and the only Arkansan to receive the award for service in Vietnam. His
Military career includes twenty-one years of active service with the
United States Army, including two tours in Vietnam. After Retirement Bacon
returned to Arkansas and served as Director of the Arkansas Department of
Veterans Affairs from 1993 until 2005. As director, he helped thousands of
veterans and their families while educating youth about the true cost of
freedom. His motto was simple-“to serve those who have served.” In
recognition of service to both our nation and our state, the Museum is
pleased to honor Nick Bacon as the 2006 recipient of the Arsenal Award.
Nick Bacon was born November 25, 1945 to a farm family in Caraway, Arkansas. When he was six, his parents suffered financial reverses and moved to Arizona with their eight children. Bacon dropped out of high school after the ninth grade and went to work for seventy-five cents an hour. An uncle’s World War II experiences taught him the value of military service. Although too young to enter the military, he signed his mother’s name to enlistment papers and joined the army in 1963 at the age of seventeen. After six months of training in heavy weapons at Fort Ord, California, Bacon joined the Eighth Infantry Division in Germany. In January 1966, he received orders for Vietnam. After completing his first tour of duty, Bacon went to Hawaii to train troops for combat. Although he did not have to go back to Vietnam, Bacon volunteered to return as a squad leader with the soldiers he had just trained. In August of 1968, Bacon distinguished himself for action “above and beyond the call of duty.” During military operations west of Tam Ky, his company came under intense enemy fire. Bacon quickly organized his men and led them forward in an assault, destroying a hostile bunker with grenades. As he did so several fellow soldiers, including the platoon leader, fell wounded. The twenty-two-year old Bacon immediately assumed command and killed the enemy gun crew in a single-handed effort. When another platoon’s leader was also wounded, he again took charge. As a result of Bacon’s extraordinary leadership, his company was able to move forward, eliminate the enemy positions, and rescue men trapped at the front.
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The MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military
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