Special Forces father Bank honored for legacy

[Dan]

Special Forces father Bank honored for legacy
By Kevin Maurer
Staff writer

Fort Bragg honored the man known as the father of Special Forces by naming a classroom building after him on Monday.

The $19.5 million Special Operations Academic Facility - built in 1992 - was renamed Col. Aaron Bank Hall.

Bank died last year at age 101.

The building named for him is across Community Access Road from the Special Warfare Center headquarters and behind the John F. Kennedy Memorial Chapel on Ardennes Street.

"Today we honor and remember one of Army special operations founding fathers," said Maj. Gen. James W. Parker, commanding general of the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School.

Parker said the building was named in gratitude for what Bank did and the example he set.

"We are a nation at war and Army special operations are at the forefront," he said. "We are fielding the finest soldiers. They are continuing your legacy of excellence."

Military career

Bank volunteered during World War II for duty with the clandestine Office of Strategic Services and conducted missions in France, Germany and Indochina. He activated the 10th Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg on June 19, 1952. Congress named Bank the father of the Green Berets in 2002.

About a dozen OSS veterans and original Special Forces soldiers attended the ceremony. Most, including retired Maj. Gen. John Singlaub, served with Bank.

"We all agree that it is very appropriate that we add the name of Aaron Bank to this significant facility," Singlaub said. "Aaron Bank was just a fanatic for proper training. The worst sin was to waste time on poorly executed training."

Singlaub and Bank met in England, where OSS operatives were training with other allied force.

The four-story, 180,000-square-foot building is the hub for Army special operations training. The building has 54 classrooms that accommodate 2,000 students. The building also has a 10,000-square-foot library. Classes on intelligence operations, regional studies and foreign languages - from Arabic to Tagalog - are taught in the building.

Parker and members of the Bank family cut the ribbon officially opening the building. Afterward, Bank's widow, Katherine, thanked the crowd of about 50 people for coming.

"It is a great honor," she said. "If my husband were here, he would be so proud."

[Dan]

Paul Prince, USASOC Public Affairs Office

Maj. Gen. James W. Parker, left, commanding general of the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, Katherine Bank, the widow of Col. Aaron Bank, and Sandy Elliott, Bank's daughter, cut the ribbon Monday to open the Col. Aaron Bank Hall at Fort Bragg.

[Bill Harsey]

Thank you for posting this Dan.

[The Reaper]

Originally Posted by Dan

Special Forces father Bank honored for legacy
By Kevin Maurer
Staff writer

"The building named for him is across Community Access Road from the Special Warfare Center headquarters and behind the John F. Kennedy Memorial Chapel on Ardennes Street."

Another idiot staff writer. USASOC needs to clean house and tighten up their standards.

"Community Access Road" was renamed Zabitosky Street several years ago. For those who did not know him, Fred Zabitosky was another SF soldier memorialized for his actions earning him the Medal of Honor, well worth a little research and reading.

Congratulations to COL Bank and his family.

TR

[Dan]

RELEASE NUMBER: 051121-01
DATE POSTED: NOVEMBER 22, 2005

Building renamed honoring father of Special Forces
By Sgt. Joe Healy
U.S. Army Special Operations Command Public Affairs Office

FORT BRAGG, NC (USASOC News Service, Nov. 22, 2005) – The academic facility where today’s elite Army Soldiers study was renamed in honor of a deceased Green Beret who is remembered as the father of Special Forces.

The Colonel Aaron Bank Hall was rededicated during a formal ceremony here Nov. 21. The building, formerly known as the Special Operations Academic Facility, has 91 classrooms and 62 offices. Approximately 2,000 people occupy it daily. It is Fort Bragg’s largest academic facility.

Bank died in April of 2004 at the age of 101.

Battling solid winds and a steady rain, approximately 200 Soldiers, civilians and retired Green Berets braved the elements and were on-hand to view the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

“Colonel Bank was the pioneer of Special Operations,” said Retired Maj. Gen. John Singlaub. “Banks believed special operators were a brotherhood of men who were risk takers. They had confidence in themselves and in their chain-of-command.”

Speaking to the audience in fluent English, French and German, Mrs. Katherine Bank, Bank’s widow, thanked the many life-long friends in the audience. Her husband would have been very pleased, she said.

Both Singlaub and Banks served in the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. The OSS is considered the United States’ first intelligence agency. Many of its members quietly created the U.S. Special Forces and Central Intelligence Agency during the 1950s.

Bank was fanatical about training, Singlaub remembered. “He believed that Soldiers must have expert knowledge of their weapons systems – so much knowledge that firing the equipment should be ‘second nature’”.

“Then the Soldier could focus solely on the mission,” Singlaub said.

The training at Bank Hall educates Soldiers in Special Forces, Psychological Operations and Civil Affairs. Language courses there include French, Spanish, Russian and Arabic.

The Army's elite Soldiers train there.

“President Kennedy once said, ‘A nation reveals itself by the men it produces and the men it honors,’” said Maj. Gen. James W. Parker, commanding general, U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School. “Today we remember a truly great man.”

Parker listed off Bank’s military achievements: OSS member; first-ever officer of the 10th Special Forces Group; responsible for the first Special Forces Training Doctrine; and named father of Special Forces by a congressional resolution.

Parker also said that Banks would be proud to know that Soldiers train with modern technology, such as computers and satellites, in the facility which bears his name.

Bank’s military awards and decorations included: the Soldier’s Medal, the Bronze Star Medal with “V” device, the French Croix de Guerre and the British “Mention in Dispatches.” Campaign medals included: the World War II European Theater and Asiatic-Pacific Theater Medal, the Korean Service Medal, the UN Service Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, the American Defense Service Medal, the Combat Infantryman Badge and Master Jump Wings.

-usasoc-

[Dan]

Maj. Gen. James W. Parker, commanding general, U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, and Mrs. Katherine Bank, the widow of Col. Aaron Bank unveil a bust of Col. Aaron Bank during the Col. Aaron Bank Hall building opening ceremony at Fort Bragg Nov. 21 (Photo by Paul Prince, USASOC Public Affairs)

[Roycroft201]

Thank you for posting the pictures along with the release, Dan. There is some fascinating history there at Ft. Bragg. I've put it on my list of " 1000 Places to see before I die" (although I can't claim credit for that - It is the title of a book!)