TAPS: COL AARON BANK

SFAHQ ^ | 1 April 04 | Mel Smith

[GreenCell]

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Col. Aaron Bank. He passed away peacefully this morning, April 1st, 2004 in California. Our thoughts and prayers are with Catherine and the family. He has been and will continue to be an icon to all Special Forces Soldiers.

We will pass on the details for his service, funeral, and where to send condolences to the membership when they are provided.

Mel Smith

Special Forces Association PO Box 41436 Fayetteville, NC 28309-1436

Email: sfahq@sfahq.org Website: www.sfahq.org

[GreenCell]

A great man passed away today

[dts32041]

"De Oppresso Libre" = To liberate the oppressed

His children are doing that today.

[rageaholic]

Always sad when an old soldier fades away. The fact that a new generation of great American veterans is being created right now is a mixed blessing, but a blessing all the same.

[So Cal Rocket]

Great man... great life...

He lived to be 100, and did enough in those 100 years to fill a thousand!

[IYAS9YAS]

A late bloomer. He joined the military when he was in his late 30s! He was in his 40s for Operation Iron Cross.

[thiscouldbemoreconfusing]

click

[babyface00]

He joined the military when he was in his late 30s

Was the age of enlistment younger then? These days you can forget the military after about 35, I think, which to me always seemed odd as 30-somethings are in better physical and financial shape these days then at any time in history.

[babyface00]

" age of enlistment younger" should read "maximum age of enlistment older".

[Archangelsk]

Sad ping. Please fill in the details for the uninformed.

[Archangelsk]

A great warrior has passed and is now standing a watch at the Gates.

[canalabamian]

DOL

[jwalsh07]

p>Aaron Bank (born November 23, 1902 in New York) is the founder of the US Army Special Forces, commonly called Green Berets.

Before the Depression young Bank was a bon vivant, traveling the world and serving, ultimately, as chief life guard at an upscale resort in Biarritz. But in 1939, he joined the military. When the United States entered World War II, Bank, by then an officer, was inevitably drawn to intelligence and special operations work (in his forties, he was "too old" for combat). He spoke good French and fair German, and he was athletic.

He served in the U.S. Army as a Captain in the Office of Strategic Services (which would be disbanded by Harry Truman in 1946 but in less than a year provide much of the cadre and expertise for the new CIA). The OSS conducted both espionage operations (SI Branch) and "special operations": sabotage and guerrilla warfare (SO Branch). Bank was assigned to SO Branch, and led one of the OSS's Jedburgh operations into France.

In that operation, Bank and two Frenchmen, an officer and a radio operator, parachuted into southern France in July 1944, and linked up with French guerillas of the Gaullist FFI. They liberated a number of towns, despite tense relations with the Communist Francs Tireurs et Partisans. In September, Bank left, mission accomplished, and reported back in to London.

In late 1944 and early 1945, Bank led "Operation Iron Cross", which evolved into a plan to capture or kill Adolf Hitler. The original plan was for a company of men disguised as German soldiers to jump in near Innsbruck in present-day Austria. There they would conduct sabotage and induce German soldiers to desert. The leaders of the unit were OSS men: Bank, a lieutenant, and two sergeants. The rank and file were prisoners of war from Nazi Germany who volunteered to fight against the Nazis. Many of them were Communists; in the end, Bank had weeded out 75 of his original 175 volunteers. They were paid sixty cents an hour, and a promise of a death benefit if they were killed.

Bank could not pass as a German, so his cover called him "Henri Marchand," a French Nazi from Martinique. The hope was that any Gestapo men asking questions wouldn't recognize a Martinique accent.

When General William Donovan, head of the OSS, was briefed on the progress of Iron Cross, he changed the mission. Hitler had been threatening that the Nazi leaders and armies would withdraw into the National Redoubt -- the mountainous area on today's German-Austrian border. This was exactly the target of Iron Cross, and Donovan ordered a new mission: "Tell Bank to get Hitler." The men of Iron Cross began training in raid and snatch techniques -- their goal was to capture Hitler alive and deliver him to a war crimes tribunal.

Iron Cross was canceled almost on the eve of execution: intelligence showed that the National Redoubt was a figment of Hitler's imagination, that Hitler was not in the target area, and that Nazi resistance was collapsing across Europe. A disappointed Bank had to thank his men for trying -- and send them back to their POW cages. Bank thought that one problem with Iron Cross was State Department aversion to setting so many armed Communists loose in an area destined for Allied occupation.

From Europe, Bank traveled to China, where he trained for an abortive mission into Indochina, and later, in September 1945, did parachute into Laos with a combined SI/SO team. During these postwar mopping-up operations, he met Ho Chi Minh, for whom he always retained great respect.

After the war Bank remained in the Army. In the period after the war, there was a debate about whether the Army needed an organization for guerilla warfare and sabotage, like the SO branch of OSS (it was understood that the duties of SI branch were covered by the CIA). Officers like Russ Volckmann, who had been a guerilla in the Phillipines, and Bank were instrumental in convincing the Army it needed such a force. The primary place such elements would be deployed, they thought, was Europe -- this time, behind Soviet lines, in the event of a new war.

Then-Colonel Aaron Bank became the first commander of the Army's first Special Forces unit, called the 10th Special Forces Group (hoping to confound the Russians with suspicions of nine more), in 1952. In establishing the 10th, he was as flexible as he had been with Iron Cross, drawing upon former members of the "1st Special Service Force" known as the Devil's Brigade, as well as veterans of the OSS, the Parachute Infantry units, and guerilla elements in the Pacific.

Using the training and strategies and the lessons learned during World War II, Bank created an elite unit of men skilled in the art of hand-to-hand combat, stealth tactics, the use of explosives for demolition, amphibious warfare, rock climbing and mountain fighting, and as ski troops.

Special Forces today are still organized into teams, as Aaron Bank organized his men in the 10th Special Forces group in 1952, with two experts in every specialty. They still must volunteer and undergo a difficult training process in which large numbers of men fail or quit, as Aaron Bank required of the men of Operation Iron Cross. Special Forces today acknowledges the paternity of Col. Bank.

Aaron Bank was commended by George W. Bush in 2002, the year he celebrated his hundredth birthday, for developing the unconventional warfare programs and techniques that had been used in toppling the Taliban.

Aaron Bank retired from the Army in 1958, and has suffered from declining health in recent years. He lives in California, with his wife Catherine, whom he married in 1948. They raised two daughters, Linda and Alexandra. He is the author of the book, From OSS to Green Berets: the Birth of Special Forces, which describes the foundation of the Special Forces.

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A salute from a leg.

[Criminal Number 18F]

Whoever WorldHistory.com is, they lifted that article directly from Wikipedia. I know it's original to Wikipedia, because I wrote it. (I also wrote the Donovan and Jedburgh articles. Or course, they have been edited by many hands since).

Aaron Bank was an incredible, incredible man. Someone wondered why he was allowed to enlist at an older age than is now used - I can only assume that the Army was more flexible then. Of course, in the War, with 12 million men under arms, the services needed everybody, but before the war, before the draft was even reinstated, the Army was tiny. I can only assume that some personnel officer had a really good nose for talent.

Aaron Bank wrote two works that I know of. One of them is his history of the establishment of SF, "From OSS to Green Berets," and the other is a short allegory on how Special Forces came to be accepted in the Army (which some would argue it did not do until the incredible Unconventional Warfare blitz of October 2001 to January 2002 in Afghanistan, where a nation's conventional military supported by international volunteers and tribal militia, was defeated by tribal militia alone, with SF and airpower acting as force multipliers).

A lot of people wonder why such a talented man never became General Bank. I think there were three reasons: one, his unconventional education, which set him apart in a small peacetime Army where everyone had a military academy or university background; two, his fascination with irregular warfare, which seemed like "cheating" to many peacetime officers and even to war heroes who were unaware of what OSS accomplished (the information only trickled out years after the war. Some of it is still trickling); and three, a lingering prejudice against Jews in the Waspish officer corps. (I was surprized when I heard that... not because I didn't believe it, but because I hadn't known the Colonel was Jewish).

In 2000 the Special Forces Association convention was in Boston and a friend of mine, who had served the Colonel on active duty, was assigned to take care of him. At this time Col. Bank was showing the first signs of dementia. "Where are we going, Bill?" he would ask, and Bill would tell him, "to the elevator... to the hospitality room." only to be asked again. Anyone who has known an Alzheimer's or microstroke patient knows what I mean. But the Colonel's memories of the forties and fifties were as clear as ever.

There is a picture of Col. Bank in his office in Bad Tölz that illustrates the power of the man. You would never know that he is fifty plus years old in the picture; he looks strong and youthful, with a square jawline; and yet you can see that he is loving life and having fun, as if he's thinking, "I would pay them to command this unit, and the dumb clucks are paying ME instead!" I'll see if I can find it online.

When I joined SF I was inspired not by Aaron Bank, but by John Wayne, Barry Sadler, and Robin Moore. Once I got in (a challenge on a paperwork level that rivaled all the usual challenges you hear about, which were pretty much just like you hear about 'em) I found out that, no disrespect to those men intended, I had all the wrong heroes. I learned about Aaron Bank, about "Splash" Kelly and Charlie Beckwith and Arthur "Bull" Simons. I learned about legendary NCOs like CSMs Bill Edge, Billy Waugh, and MSG Ed Sprague, and about heroes like Bob Howard. Jon Cavaiani, Roger S. Donlon, and many others. You could say I got my brain-housing group recalibrated, to Army standards.

It was a bit intimidating. I trained under Howard briefly, I worked for Cavaiani on an exercise, I got to meet "Jake" Jakovenko and another Son Tay Raider, Paul Poole, tried to teach me to shoot a .45 pistol (and gave up). Each one taught me something (even if it was only "when you are down to your pistol get help.") But none of these guys would have come together if it hadn't been for Col. Aaron Bank, USA (Ret).

Of my three original SF inspirations: John Wayne died of lung cancer. Barry Sadler shot himself in a taxicab in Tegucigalpa, somewhat the worse for alcohol; and Robin Moore, who's just trucking along at 79 years of age with a new book out, had a scotch on the rocks with me at the Hanscom AFB O club last night.

Of course, we drank to the memory of the Colonel. Rest in peace, great American.

d.o.l. <- and by now most of you will have sussed out the meaning of this...

Criminal Number 18F

[Criminal Number 18F]

Here's a novel about the early days and what we call The Originals (in tones of respect) but what, if Mr Fitzgerald if to be believed, the brass called "Bank's Bandit's."

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[Criminal Number 18F]

Helps if you include the link, idjit.

http://www.edwardffitzgerald.com/historical.htm

[kms61]

My great-uncle was a forty year old draftee in WWII. I think that was pretty rare, but it did happen.

[Criminal Number 18F]

Gents, you may be interested in my posts in this thread. Eh, you may not. Free country.

Also:

http://www.soc.mil/sofinfo/history.shtml (official ARSOF timeline)

http://www.soc.mil/SF/history.txt (Early history of SF)

He's even famous in Slovakia (linguistic challenge to Archangelsk. And is the guy in the picture Jim Summers?)
http://www.mod.gov.sk/e-ziny/armada/2002_06/006.html

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/oss/art09.htm (he is briefly mentioned on this page of a CIA official history of OSS. The history is interesting overall).

http://www.jewishaz.com/jewishnews/030808/list.shtml (some of the resistance guys that Bank led in his Jed phase here)

Torie Clarke's 2002 birthday wishes for the COlonel:
http://www.dod.gov/news/Nov2002/t11202002_t1120asd.html

OSS Society (formerly OSS Veterans Org) links:
http://www.osssociety.org/links.html

This page basically tells the story in AB's history book in compressed form:
http://www.statecraft.org/chapter2.html

Unfortunately, I struck out finding the steel-jawed Bad Tölz picture.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[GreenCell]

Special Forces Members:

As most of you are probably now aware, COL (Ret.) Aaron Bank passed away
Thursday 01 April, at his home in Dana Point, CA.

There will be a public viewing at:

Lesneski Mortuary
640 S. El Camino Real
San Clemente, CA 92672
949-492-1717

Date: Sunday, 04 April
Time: 3:00pm - 8:00pm

The funeral will be held at:

Riverside National Cemetery
22495 Van Buren Blvd. (Just off Rt. I-215, directly across from March AFB)
Riverside, CA 92518
909-653-8417

Date: Monday, 05 April
Time: 1:00pm

After the funeral service, there will be a reception at Hap Arnold on March
AFB. .



Feel free to get in touch, if you have any questions.
--
Adrian

Adrian Silva (D-6625)
Special Forces Association
Chapter 75 - Vice President
San Diego, CA
760-945-7480 Home
760-631-4535 Office
760-419-6083 Cell
E-mail: tutor@wintutors.com
Website: www.sfachapter75.org

"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night
in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find
that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous
men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it
possible.
- T.E Lawrence, "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom"



Special Forces Association
PO Box 41436
Fayetteville, NC
28309-1436 email: sfahq@aol.com
Telephone 910-485-5433 website: www.sfahq.org
Fax 910-485-1041

[Johnny Gage]

       
Col. Aaron Bank
Thank you for your service.
May God grant you His eternal Rest.

[Soaring Feather]

Col. Aaron Bank


Thank you for your service.