Long March to Honor Green Berets Founder

A walk spanning 3,000 miles across America, starting Sunday at the base of Newport Pier, will honor a man known as the founding father of the U.S. Army 10th Special Forces unit, better known as the Green Berets.

Retired Col. Aaron Bank, 94, of San Clemente founded the covert guerrilla warfare unit in 1952, following his work during World War II as a special operations officer at the Office of Strategic Services, a predecessor to the CIA. He has written two books on his aborted mission to kidnap Adolf Hitler.

Ted Encinas, president of Chapter XII Special Forces Assn. of Southern California, said the walk, which will end sometime in late November at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, also will raise money for the Special Forces museum in Fort Bragg.

A ceremony will take place at the base of the pier beginning at 7 a.m., followed by the walk up Newport Boulevard beginning at 8 a.m. Information: (714) 373-0460.