The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2010

J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 1 0 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 77 John George Bacon , 89, a retired FSO, died peacefully at his home in Destin, Fla., on April 25. Mr. Bacon was born in Spokane, Wash. During WorldWar II he served in the United States Army with the 80th Division in Europe and was awarded four battle stars, before re- signing his commission at the rank of captain to return to school. Mr. Bacon attended Washington State College andWhitman University before graduating from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He later earned an advanced, special- ized degree from the National War College in Washington, D.C. During a 30-year diplomatic career, Mr. Bacon served in London, Rome, New York (at the United Nations), Khartoum, Saigon, Bonn and Jakarta. He also served the Department of State inWashington, D.C., as the exec- utive director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency and was a mem- ber of the delegation to the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty talks in Hel- sinki and Vienna. After retiring as a minister coun- selor, he accompanied his wife, Mau- reen, to her Foreign Service posts in Accra, Tel Aviv and Bridgetown. Mr. Bacon was a resident of Destin, Fla., for more than 15 years. An active member of the Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship of the Emerald Coast, he served as president and treasurer. He also served as an advocate for children in the Okaloosa County Courts and played tennis four times a week through the age of 85. One of his fa- vorite downtime activities was con- templating the view of “his lake” from his back deck with Yoffi, his dog, by his side. Friends and family remember Mr. Bacon as a quiet, introspective in- dividual with a quick wit and wry sense of humor. He is survived by his wife, Maureen Bacon of Destin, five children and eight grandchildren. Thomas J. Barnes , 80, a retired FSO, died on April 4. Born in St. Paul, Minn., in 1930, he escaped the rigors of northern winters by joining the U.S. Army in 1951, shortly after obtaining a master’s de- gree in English literature from the University of Minnesota. Service in Korea and Japan instilled in him an en- during affection for Asia, but fear of a lifetime of bivouacs in the snow led him to resign his regular Army com- mission in late 1956. He entered the Foreign Service in 1957, serving until 1980. During his 23-year diplomatic ca- reer, Mr. Barnes spent six years in Thailand, five in Vietnam and three in Laos. He was consul in Jue and Udorn, consul general in Can Tho and Tangier, an associate USAID director covering Vietnam’s Military Region II fromNhatrang, and political counselor in Bangkok. Other assignments in- cluded tours as a senior staff member for East Asia on the National Security Council, diplomat-in-residence at the University of Hawaii, regional refugee coordinator for Southeast Asia and di- rector of the Interagency Humanitar- ian Working Group on Kampuchea in Washington. Those last two assignments led to his October 1980 entry into the Office of the United Nations High Commis- sioner for Refugees. He initially served in Somalia as UNHCR deputy representative and later in Geneva as, successively, chief of the Southwest Asia section, head of the Supplies and Food Aid Service, and head of Organ- ization and Management. Turning 60 brought on mandatory U.N. retire- ment at the end of 1990. From early 1991 through mid-1995, Mr. Barnes served as coordinator for operations and program development for the International Catholic Migra- tion Commission at its Geneva head- quarters. After settling in Austin, Texas, in 1996, he wrote five books, including two historical novels, Tay Son: Rebel- lion in 18th-Century Vietnam (2000) and Vietnam When the Tanks Were Elephants (2005); a memoir, Anecdotes of a Vagabond: The Foreign Service , the I N M EMORY