Veteran of the Year ceremony set for Saturday
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. >> A Vietnam veteran and Purple Heart recipient, Lt. Col. (ret.) Nicholas M. Laiacona of Bolton Landing will be honored as the 2018 Veteran of the Year Award.
The special ceremony is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday at the New York State Military Museum, 61 Lake Ave., in Saratoga Springs.
Officials said the public is invited to attend.
An alumnus of LaSalle Institute in Troy, Laiacona joined the army in 1966, graduated from Infantry Officer Candidate School in 1967 and served in Vietnam as a platoon leader and company commander in the Mobile Riverine Force, 9th Infantry Division, in the Mekong Delta region.
After returning home from Vietnam, he transferred to the Ordnance Corps and had a number of assignments in the U.S., Germany and Korea. In 1985, he was selected as one of the first certified U.S. Army material acquisition managers and became one of the first officers in the Army Acquisition Corps.
Laiacona retired on Jan. 31, 1991 with more than 24 years of service to his country. His awards and decorations include the Combat Infantry Badge, Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster, Bronze Star for Valor with three Oak Leaf Clusters, Purple Heart, Meritorious Service Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters, three Air Medals, Army Commendation Medal for Valor with four Oak Leaf Clusters, National Defense Service Medal with star, Vietnam Service Medal with four stars, Korean Defense Medal and other U.S. and Vietnam service awards.
He is a graduate of the U.S.
Army Command and General Staff College, the Program Management Course, Materiel Acquisition Management Course and was a distinguished graduate of the Management of Defense Acquisition Contracts Course.
After retiring, Laiacona worked for several corporations in support of U.S. Army armament research, development and engineering where he used the expertise obtained during his military career to further support army technical developments and ammunitions.
He has also been very active in several veterans organizations, most notably the Association of the U.S. Army where he was president of the Capital District chapter and continues to serve on its executive committee.
He is very active in the La Salle Institute Alumni Association as its current president.
Laiacona graduated from LaSalle in 1962, from Siena College in 1966 and has two master’s degrees, one from Troy State University (1980) and one from Florida Institute of Technology (1992).
He and his wife, Christina, have three sons.
The Veterans of the Year Award is sponsored by Friends of the New York State Military Museum and the Capital District of New York Chapter of the Association of the U.S. Army. The presidents of both groups will present the award with U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, RWillsboro.
The ceremony will include remarks by Col. John Andonie, chief of staff to the New York National Guard’s adjutant general.