Nick Bacon - Later Years and Legacy

Later Years and Legacy

Bacon had six children, daughters Kristy and Kim and sons William, James, Wyatt, and Britt.

After his military retirement, Bacon returned with his wife, Tamera Ann, to Arizona and worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs at their Phoenix regional office. While there, he was the co-originator of the Med-Vet Healthcare Program in Phoenix and participated in John McCain's 1986 political campaign in which McCain was first elected to the U.S. Senate. Bacon later served as town manager for the Phoenix suburb of Surprise.

In 1990, Bacon moved back to Arkansas and lived in the town of Rose Bud. He was appointed director of the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs by Governor Jim Guy Tucker in April 1993 and served until his final retirement in February 2005. During his tenure, he helped establish the Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery and the Arkansas Veterans Coalition. He “considered the cemetery one of his greatest accomplishments” according to his brother John.

Bacon was part of the official United States delegation to normalize relations with Vietnam in 1995 and traveled to Israel in the late 1990s on behalf of Jewish veterans to urge the Israeli government not to cede the Golan Heights to Syria. He later served as president of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society and Chair Emeritus of the American Board for Certification in Homeland Security. Bacon was also inducted into the Military Police Hall of Fame at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. In 2006, Bacon was honored by the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military Historywith the Arsenal Award in recognition of his service to the nation and the State of Arkansas.

In 2004, Bacon was appointed by House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) to the Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission, an independent, 13-member panel charged with studying the military's system of compensating veterans for injuries to ensure that it was equitable and fair. The commission issued its final report, which made more than 100 recommendations, in 2007. He also served on the President’s National Hire Veterans Committee and the Veterans Disability Benefits Commission.

Bacon died on the morning of July 17, 2010, after a long battle with cancer. He was the last living Medal of Honor recipient from the state of Arkansas. His burial took place with full military honors at the Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery in North Little Rock on July 24.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars has since honored him with the establishment of the Nick Bacon Memorial Scholarship for children and grandchildren of disabled veterans. Likewise, "a Memorial Room at an American Legion Post in Little Rock now honors Nick Bacon." In 2012, the United States House of Representatives passed H.R. 3870X, which was introduced by Congressman Timothy Griffin (R-AR) and acted to "designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 6083 Highway 36 West in Rose Bud, Arkansas, as the Nicky "Nick" Daniel Bacon Post Office.'" Heber Springs, Arkansas installed a new flagpole and a memorial marker honoring Bacon in the town ball park in 2012