George Bacon (CIA officer)

It took Bacon a couple of tries to join the mercenaries being hired by the National Liberation Front of Angola in 1975; they suspected him of being a CIA plant. Once recruited, he flew to Kinshasa on 6 February 1976 to report for duty with Colonel Callan. He was greeted with a telephone call from the American Embassy, ordering him back to the United States. Despite his becoming aware that the mercenary force was poorly organized and supported, with few members, many of dubious martial ability, Bacon remained committed to crossing the border into the fighting in Angola. The Cuban-backed MPLA was beating them badly there. The mercenaries were outnumbered thousands to one. Bacon turned to providing weapons training to local soldiery, instructing 10 to 20 at a time.

On 14 February 1976, in a symbolic act of resistance, the mercenaries decided to block the MPLA's mechanized advance by blowing up a concrete highway bridge. Bacon, accompanied by several other mercenaries, mined the bridge for demolition before departing. They were fleeing the scene in a Land Rover when they ran into the rear stake-bed truck of an enemy column of dozens of vehicles. The Land Rover was riddled with enemy bullets before the soldiers of fortune could open fire. Before dying of multiple wounds, Bacon shoved fellow mercenary Gary Acker from the Land Rover.

On 26 February 1976, the American Embassy in Kinshasa reported Bacon's death in action in Angola. Three other American citizens, originally reported killed in the same ambush, would later be tried by a People's Revolutionary Tribune.

Following discharge from the U.S. Army, Bacon spent time as a civilian before joining the Central Intelligence Agency. He worked as a case officer for them during the Secret War in Laos through 1975. After supposedly leaving the CIA, he became an anti-communist mercenary in the Angolan Civil War, though he may have been working undercover. He was killed in action while attempting to demolish a crucial highway bridge to block an enemy advance.

Subsequently, he was assigned to be the regimental adviser to Groupe Mobile-24 on the Plain of Jars in June 1971. Using the radio call sign Kayak, he led his mixed band of Lao and Thai irregulars into battle, only to be chastised for risking himself. Nevertheless, George Bacon led his guerrilla band into offensives through war's end.

Because Bacon's medical training was considered too valuable to hazard, especially considering that MACV-SOG's casualty rate exceeded 100%, he was ordered to remain on base at the Command and Control North headquarters. Instead, outraged by denial of the chance to directly battle communism, he went absent without leave southward to Command and Control Central, and finagled his way onto MACV-SOG's Recon Team Illinois. In May 1969, in a memorable operation, Bacon infiltrated into Cambodia as a member of this team. It was tasked with gathering bomb damage assessment in the wake of the third Operation Menu B-52 raid. Team Illinois was inserted only 20 minutes after the bombing, with the intention of capturing a stunned enemy soldier for military intelligence interrogation. The team had to shoot its way out, with Bacon and John Plaster laying down heavy suppressive fire.

Bacon served in the Vietnam War as a Green Beret during 1968–1969. He was trained as a combat medic. He is remembered as a skinny man with very wide shoulders, a piercing stare from under the brim of an ugly floppy hat, and a reputation for eccentricity. His linguistic talent led him to master Vietnamese and the Bru language while serving in Vietnam. At one time, he served on Recon Team Sidewinder of MACV-SOG.

On 23 August 1968, he was at MACV-SOG's Command and Control North base to be considered for promotion. He was unfortunate enough to be napping directly in the path of an attacking force of PAVN sappers; he was severely wounded in the shoulder.

George Washington Bacon III (4 August 1946 – 14 February 1976) was an American soldier. He served as a Green Beret in the U.S. Army, espionage agent for the Central Intelligence Agency, and finally as a mercenary soldier.