Special Forces father Bank honored for legacy

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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."