By Linda D. KozarynAmerican Forces Press Service
Sept. 11, 2009 - Kenneth Hogate Bacon was a man of great integrity and humanity. He was first and foremost a newsman — endlessly inquisitive, continually seeking accuracy and clarity. He sought knowledge and truth. He upheld the public's right to know. After a career as a reporter, editor and columnist at the Wall Street Journal from 1969 to 1994, he accepted an appointment as the assistant defense secretary for public affairs at the Pentagon. In 2001, he became president of Refugees International, a non-profit organization that advocates for the world's 12 million displaced people.
Bacon, 64, died of melanoma on Aug. 15. Two former defense secretaries and about 900 colleagues and friends turned out for a memorial service in his honor at the Washington National Cathedral in northwest Washington, D.C.
Bacon's daughters Katharine and Sarah paid tributes to their father, followed by Eugene Carlson, an editor and weekly columnist for The Wall Street Journal, and noted actor Sam Waterston, who serves on the board of Refugees International.
William J. Perry, defense secretary from 1994 to 1997, paid tribute to his former spokesman, noting that he'd learned much from the man he had chosen as his top public affairs advisor. Perry, accompanied to the service by his wife Lee, said he offered Bacon the job because he was the best defense correspondent he knew.
Perry recalled that after his first live television press interview with the late Tim Russert on NBC's Meet the Press, Bacon commented that the new defense secretary certainly knew how to make news. "It slowly dawned on me that he didn't mean it as a compliment," Perry said, drawing soft laughter from the mourners.
With Bacon at his side, Perry traveled to 67 different countries and logged about 700,000 miles in military aircraft ranging from C-20 passenger jets to C-17 Globemaster cargo planes. They visited the war torn Balkans and the former Soviet bloc nations.
Perry said he believes a trip the two men made together sparked Bacon's desire to serve the world's refugees.
In 1996, after the war in Rwanda ended, a million refugees mostly Hutu were in three or four refugee camps just across the border in Zaire, When cholera broke out in the camps and about 5,000 people a day were dying.
"Only the United States had the combination of water purification equipment, skilled engineers and the airlift that could move them in a matter of days," Perry said at the time. "Two days after the president gave me the order, we had that purification equipment over there. Three days after, I went over myself and saw it up and operating, and in that short amount of time, the cholera epidemic was stopped cold."
When Perry left office, Bacon stayed on to serve as William S. Cohen's public affairs advisor and spokesman. The travels continued and Bacon visited refugee camps in Macedonia following the conflict in Kosovo, deepening his concern for the plight of refugees.
Cohen and his wife Janet Langhart Cohen also paid their respects to Bacon's family by attending the memorial service. They joined several former defense officials who served during Bacon's time at the Pentagon, including Rudy DeLeon, deputy defense secretary; Tori Clarke, assistant secretary of defense for public affairs; Jan M. Lodal, principal deputy under secretary of defense for policy, 1994-1997; Jim Bodner, principal deputy under secretary of defense for policy, 1998-2001.
Three who served as Bacon's deputies also attended: Clifford Bernath, Doug Wilson, Dennis Boxx and Willie Blacklow; as well as retired Adm. Mike Doubleday, deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs; Bob Tyrer, Cohen's chief of staff; Celia Hoke, director of community relations and public liaison; and Liz Bailey, DoD's White House Liaison.
Current Pentagon officials included Bryan Whitman, deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs; Marine Col. Dave Lapan, director of press operations; and Vince Ogilvy, deputy director of entertainment media.
Some of the former and current Pentagon correspondents who attended include: Washington Post's George Wilson; CNN's Barbara Star and Jamie McIntyre; CBS's David Martin; Associated Press' Bob Burns; and NPR's Guy Raz.
Many of the lower-level worker bees from Bacon's days at the Pentagon also attended the service. They came to honor the man they knew as a strong but kind leader. Bacon made it a point to understand and value each employee's contribution, and he ensured those who did the work got the credit they deserved.
When Helene Stikkel, a 35-year veteran military and Defense Department photographer, asked Bacon to conduct her retirement ceremony in 2008, he returned to the Pentagon's briefing room. He took the opportunity to acknowledge by name several people in the audience who had worked with him. They weren't senior defense officials, they were clerks, secretaries, writers, public affairs officers.
He spoke of Stikkel's worldwide travels with him and Perry, and the way her photos were used as part of Perry's international diplomacy. He said Perry maintained a row of Helene's photos of his travels in his office. Whenever a foreign dignitary visited the Pentagon, Perry moved the foreign VIP's photo to the front of the line and used it to spark recollections of their last meeting.
Stikkel was among those who paid their respects to a great man we will not forget.
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