Aaron Bank (November 23, 1902 – April 1, 2004) was a United States Army colonel who founded the US Army Special Forces, commonly known as the "Green Berets". He is also 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. In retirement, Bank warned about terrorism and modern technology. He is largely responsible for the high level of security at U.S. nuclear power plants since the early 1970s. Biography World War II career Bank grew up in New York City. His father died in 1904 and his widowed mother raised him while earning a living by teaching French, German, and piano. As a young man, Bank worked as a life guard on Long Island, NY and in the Bahamas and later on he was chief life guard at an upscale resort in Biarritz He enlisted in the Army on August 19, 1942, then volunteered for special operations work. He 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 (OSS). The OSS conducted espionage operations (SI Branch) and special operations (SO Branch) for sabotage and guerrilla warfare. Bank was assigned to SO Branch, and on July 31, 1944, led the Jedburgh Team PACKARD, parachuting into Lozère Department of France and linking up with French Resistance. At the time of "Operation Anvil", also known as "Operation Dragoon" (the Allied invasion of Southern France about six weeks after the D-Day invasion at Normandy), Bank and his French partisans drove the German forces away from the beachhead ahead of the Allied troops, liberating a number of French towns before the regular forces arrived. In late 1944 and early 1945, Bank led "Operation Iron Cross," which evolved into a plan to capture or kill Adolf Hitler. The OSS recruited German POWs who were opposed to Hitler, finding many volunteers among former German soldiers, primarily former German Communists, and German Jews who had taken refuge in the Wehrmacht, posing as Gentiles. They formed a special forces unit trained as parachute infantry. Outfitted with SS uniforms and trained for "raid and snatch" missions, they were intended for insertion into the expected "Alpine Redoubt" on the Austrian/German border, where senior Nazi officials were planning to make their