Rick Rescorla

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Cyril Richard Rescorla
May 27, 1939–September 11, 2001
Image:RickRescola.jpg
Nickname Rick
Place of birth Hayle, Cornwall
Place of death New York, New York
Allegiance U.S. Army
Years of service 1968-1990
Rank Colonel
Unit 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile)
Battles/wars Battle of Ia Drang
Awards Silver Star
Bronze Star (OLC)
Purple Heart
Other work World Trade Center Security Chief, Morgan Stanley

Cyril Richard Rescorla (May 27, 1939 – September 11, 2001), known as Rick Rescorla, was a retired United States Army officer of British birth who served with distinction in Rhodesia as a British soldier and the Vietnam War as an American officer. As the World Trade Center security chief for the financial services firm Morgan Stanley, Rescorla anticipated both attacks on the towers and implemented evacuation procedures that are credited with saving many lives. He died in the September 11, 2001 attacks while leading the evacuation efforts.

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[edit] Early life

Rescorla was born Cyril Richard Rescorla in the British town of Hayle, Cornwall, in 1939. In 1943, Hayle served as headquarters for the 175th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. 29th Infantry Division, largely composed of soldiers from Maryland and Virginia, which was preparing for the invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe. Young Rescorla, like many British youths, idolized the American soldiers.

Rescorla was a sports natural, setting a school record in the shot put, and was an avid boxer. When a professional boxing match was scheduled between a British boxer and an American heavyweight contender named Tami Mauriello, his friends backed the Englishman. Rescorla stated, "I'm for Tammy", and after Mauriello won the fight, everyone in Hayle knew him as "Tammy".

As he later recounted to his best friend Daniel J. Hill, Rescorla hated his given name "Cyril" and began using "Rick" on joining the British Army. The events of the war made a deep impression on Rescorla. He would tell Hill how he never forgot the words of Winston Churchill on the eve of the Normandy Invasion: "This vast operation is undoubtedly the most complicated and difficult that has ever taken place. The ardour and spirit of the troops, as I saw myself, embarking in these last few days was splendid to witness."

[edit] Military service

Rescorla enlisted in the British Army in 1957, training as a paratrooper with The Parachute Regiment, and then serving with an intelligence unit in Cyprus. He then served as a paramilitary police inspector in the Northern Rhodesia Police (now the Zambia Police Service.) On returning to London and civilian life, he joined the Metropolitan Police Service, but found the paperwork boring.

Rescorla and Hill later told people that they first met at U.S. Army basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey, in 1963. Actually, they had met earlier at a rugby game in Northern Rhodesia in 1961, while Rescorla was a policeman and Hill a mercenary. Hill had fought against the Communists in Hungary in 1956, in the Lebanon in 1958, and in the Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961. On hearing Rescorla was bored, Hill persuaded his friend to join him in the United States Army, arguing that the next fight was in Vietnam.

Rescorla enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1963 with Hill, and after basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey, he attended Officer Candidate School and airborne training at Fort Benning, Georgia. On graduation, Rescorla was assigned as a platoon leader in the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile).

Sent to Vietnam, Rescorla participated in the 1965 Battle of Ia Drang, described in the book and movie We Were Soldiers Once...And Young, and is the soldier pictured on the book jacket cover. Co-author Lieutenant General Hal Moore described him as "the best platoon leader I ever saw". Rescorla’s men nicknamed him "Hard Core" for his bravery in battle, and revered him for his good humor and compassion towards his men. He is also mentioned in the book Baptism by Larry Gwin who also fought at Ia Drang. The fourteenth chapter of the book is called Rescorla's Game and describes him as the "Cornish Hawk". James Stewart, the Pulitzer Prize winner for "Den of Thieves" wrote a biography of Rescorla titled, "Heart of A Soldier." In it, Stewart shows how Rescorla's enormous strength and character is challenged time and time again, and how Rescorla, in spite of all obstacles to the contrary, is able to overcome them until his untimely death at the World Trade Center.

Rescorla's Vietnam honors included the Silver Star, the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, a Purple Heart, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry.

[edit] Later life

After Vietnam, Rescorla became a U.S. citizen in 1968, and used his GI Bill benefits to obtain bachelor's and master's degrees in literature at the University of Oklahoma. After graduating, Rescorla moved to South Carolina, where he taught criminal justice at the University of South Carolina for three years and published a textbook on the subject.

Throughout this period, Rescorla continued to serve in the United States Army Reserve, retiring in 1990 as a colonel.

After marrying his first wife Elizabeth in Dallas in 1972 and raising two children, he left academia and moved to New Jersey in 1985 to join the financial services firm Dean Witter as their security director. When Dean Witter merged with Morgan Stanley in 1997, Rescorla became director of security for Morgan Stanley in the World Trade Center.

His marriage to Elizabeth ended in the mid-1990s. Rescorla was suffering from prostate cancer when he met his future second wife Susan Greer in 1998. The couple were married on 20 February 1999 at Castillo de San Marcos, in St. Augustine, Florida. Although the cancer later metastasized to his bones, in the summer of 2000 Rescorla was told the cancer was not advancing any further.

[edit] WTC risk assessment

In 1992 Rescorla warned the Port Authority (owner of the World Trade Center) about the possibility of a truck bomb attack on the pillars in the basement parking garage, but was ignored. When Islamist terrorists used this method in the 1993 attack, Rescorla was instrumental in evacuating the building, and was literally the last man out. He and Dan Hill then prepared a report that warned of another attack, this time from a commercial aircraft crashing into the complex, but he was again ignored.

Rescorla recommended to his superiors at Morgan Stanley that the company leave Manhattan. Office space and labor costs were lower in New Jersey, and the firm's employees and equipment would be safer in a proposed four-story building. However, this recommendation was not followed as the company's lease at the World Trade Center did not terminate until 2006. At Rescorla’s insistence, all employees, including senior executives, then practiced emergency evacuations every three months.

[edit] Death on 9/11

Rescorla Memorial in Hayle, Cornwall
Enlarge
Rescorla Memorial in Hayle, Cornwall

Rescorla was supposed to be on vacation on 11 September in preparation for his step-daughter's upcoming wedding in Tuscany. But as well as covering a shift so one of his deputies could go on vacation, he was also scheduled to attend a lunchtime meeting to discuss the lawsuit Morgan Stanley was filing against the Port Authority about the security lapses that led to the 1993 attack.

At 8:46 a.m., American Airlines Flight 11 struck World Trade Center Tower 1 (see September 11, 2001 attacks). Rescorla, following his evacuation plans, ignored building officials' advice to stay put and began the orderly evacuation of Morgan Stanley's 2,800 employees on twenty floors of World Trade Center Tower 2, and 1,000 employees in WTC 5. Rescorla reminded everyone to "...be proud to be an American ...everyone will be talking about you tomorrow", and sang God Bless America and other military and Cornish songs over his bullhorn to help evacuees stay calm as they left the building.

Rescorla had most of Morgan Stanley’s 2800 employees as well as people working on other floors of WTC 2 safely out of the buildings by the time United Airlines Flight 175 hit WTC 2 at 9:02 a.m.

After having led many of his fellow employees to safety, Rescorla returned to the building to rescue others still inside. When one of his collegues told him he too had to evacuate the World Trade Center, Rescorla replied "As soon as I make sure everyone else is out".

He was last seen heading up the stairs of the tenth floor of the collapsing WTC 2. His remains were not recovered. As a result of Rescorla's actions, only 6 of Morgan Stanley's 2800 WTC employees were killed on September 11th, 2001, including Rick and three of his deputies who followed him back into the building - Wesley Mercer, Jorge Velazquez, and Godwin Forde.

He left behind a widow, Susan Rescorla, two children and three step-children. A memorial stone was erected in his hometown of Hayle, Cornwall, to commemorate his life.

[edit] Tributes

A biography of Rescorla, Heart of a Soldier by James B. Stewart (ISBN 0-7432-4459-1), was described by Time Magazine as "the best non-fiction book of 2002". Rescorla was the subject of a 2005 documentary entitled The Man Who Predicted 9/11. The film was shown on Channel 4 in the UK and the History Channel in the United States.

There is a petition drive to award Rescorla a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom with over 28,000 web signatures as of October, 2006. [1]

In 2003, Rescorla was awarded the White Cross of Cornwall by the Revived Cornish Stannary Parliament. [2]

In 2006, Fort Benning, Georgia, unveiled a statue of Rick Rescorla. [3]

[edit] Quotations

Rescorla to Hill about what his experiences in Africa taught him:

"You should be able to strip a man naked and throw him out with nothing on him. By the end of the day, the man should be clothed and fed. By the end of the week, he should own a horse. And by the end of a year he should own a business and have money in the bank"

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Medal
  2. ^ White Cross of Cornwall Award to Rick Rescorla
  3. ^ Statue

[edit] External links

Persondata
NAME Rick Rescorla
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION War hero, victim and hero of 9/11
DATE OF BIRTH May 27, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Hayle, Cornwall
DATE OF DEATH September 11, 2001
PLACE OF DEATH New York, New York
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../r/i/c/Rick_Rescorla_4111.html"