After Germany surrendered, Bank was sent to southeast Asia, where he met and worked with Ho Chi Minh, the leader of the Vietnamese resistance against the Japanese occupation.
Bank recommended that Ho Chi Minh be the future head of a coalition government, but American policy did not agree with such an idea.
Then, Bank went to serve in Korea. Following his service in Korea, he was appointed chief of the Special Operations Branch of the Psychological Warfare Staff. He argued that the U.S. military needed a group that could conduct unconventional warfare.
In 1952, the concept was approved, and Bank became commander of the new 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
He recruited troops with a range of special operations backgrounds. This elite unit within the Army had to be skilled in stealth tactics, foreign languages, sabotage, and various forms of warfare.
Later, Bank suggested that Special Forces soldiers should wear berets as a mark of distinction. He listed purple, wine-red, and green as possible colors for the berets.
Initially, the idea was rejected. It wasn’t until 1962, four years after Bank retired from the military that President John F. Kennedy allowed Army Special Forces to wear their famous green berets.
On April 1, 2004, Bank passed away at an assisted-living facility at the age of 101. The main academic building at the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center was named in his honor.
