21 Facts About Aaron Bank

Aaron Bank was a United States Army colonel who founded the US Army Special Forces, commonly known as the "Green Berets".

Aaron Bank is known for his exploits as an OSS officer during World War II, when he parachuted into France to coordinate the French Resistance and organizing an operation intended to capture Adolf Hitler.

Aaron Bank is largely responsible for the high level of security at US nuclear power plants since the early 1970s.

Aaron Bank's father died in 1904 and his widowed mother raised him while earning a living by teaching French, German, and piano.

Aaron Bank enlisted in the Army on August 19,1942, then volunteered for special operations work.

Aaron Bank was in his late thirties, and thought "too old" for combat, but he was an unusually athletic man and so was accepted into the Office of Strategic Services.

Aaron Bank was assigned to SO and the Operational Group Command, and on July 31,1944, led the Jedburgh Team PACKARD, parachuting into Lozere Department of France and linking up with French Resistance.

In late 1944 and early 1945, Aaron Bank led "Operation Iron Cross," which evolved into a plan to capture or kill Adolf Hitler.

Aaron Bank spent considerable time traveling through Vietnam with Ho and was impressed with Ho's manifest popularity among the Vietnamese population.

Aaron Bank advised the OSS of Ho's great popularity, recommended that Ho be allowed to form a coalition government, and predicted that Ho would win a popular election overwhelmingly if one was conducted.

Aaron Bank was accused by French officials of proliferating anti-French propaganda amongst Lao Issara and Viet Minh nationalist groups.

In 1952, Aaron Bank became the first commander of the Army's first Special Forces unit, called the 10th Special Forces Group, a number which was selected to confound the Russians with suspicions of nine more such units.

Special Forces today are still all volunteer and organized into "A teams," as Aaron Bank organized his men in the 10th Special Forces group in 1952, with two experts in every specialty.

Aaron Bank retired from the Army in 1958, and remained a vigorous man well into his eighties, swimming several miles a day in the Pacific Ocean near his home in San Clemente, California.

Aaron Bank determined that the San Onofre plant was protected by one private security guard with a sidearm, as if the only concern was civilian theft.

Aaron Bank concluded that a single special forces soldier could overcome this guard, seize the plant and destroy it with a small quantity of explosives.

Aaron Bank then shared his concerns with an investigative journalist, who wrote an expose of poor security at San Onofre for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in 1974.

Aaron Bank served in the late 1970s as the chief of Security for the Capistrano Bay Community Services District on Beach Road, a private community of homes along Capistrano Beach, next to Dana Point, California.

Aaron Bank married German-born Catherine Suzanne Wagner on August 4,1948, in Munich, and they had two daughters, Linda and Alexandra.

Aaron Bank died on April 1,2004, in Dana Point, California, at the age of 101.

Aaron Bank is buried at Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, California.