Meritorious Service Record

The Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea established the Korean Liberation Army in September 1940 in Chongqing, China. The ultimate goal of the Korean Liberation Army was to participate in World War II as part of the Allied forces alongside the United States, the United Kingdom, and China, and to secure Korea’s independence as a recognized victorious nation. The deployment of the India-Burma Guerrilla Unit to the India-Burma front, where they conducted joint operations with the British Army against the Japanese, was one of the key military activities aimed at achieving this goal.
Nine members of the India-Burma Guerrilla Unit were dispatched to India on August 29, 1943, at the request of the British Indian Army. The unit members were assigned to the India Field Broadcasting Unit (I.F.B.U.) under the British Special Operations Executive (S.O.E.), and operated under the name Korean National Army Liaison Unit (KNALU). They carried out missions such as psychological warfare broadcasts, document decryption, prisoner interrogations, and the publication of propaganda materials at areas near the Burmese border such as Imphal.
Bacon served as a liaison officer between the Korean operatives and the British military from October 26, 1943, to September 15, 1944. As a Canadian national, Bacon had previously spent ten years as a missionary in Korea, allowing him to become fluent in Korean. Because of this, he worked in close cooperation with the India-Burma Guerrilla Unit.
On March 13, 1945, while carrying out a mission at the frontlines in central Burma, Bacon was killed in action.
The South Korean government posthumously awarded Roland Clinton Bacon the Order of Merit for National Foundation (National Medal) in 2020 in recognition of his contributions to Korea’s independence.