Posted on 04/04/2006 7:36:13 AM PDT by T-Bird45
COLUMBUS, Ga. - More than 500 people attended the unveiling of a statue honoring Rick Rescorla, the decorated Vietnam veteran who, as security chief for Morgan Stanley, led hundreds of people to safety from the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
The statue was put up Saturday at Fort Benning, in west-central Georgia, where Rescorla attended Officer Candidate School, though it was sent back to storage after the ceremony while a permanent pedestal is being built. Fort Benning's National Infantry Museum already has a portrait of the former Army Colonel.
"There was never any question as where to put the statue of Rick," said his widow, Susan Rescorla. "It was here he went to OCS and from here that he left for Vietnam."
Rescorla died on Sept. 11 after helping evacuate 2,700 employees from the World Trade Center. The 62-year-old was last seen going up stairs of the south tower, looking for stragglers in the aftermath of the terrorist attack.
"If he hadn't done his job the way he did, the death toll at the Trade Center would probably be twice what it is today," said author Joe Galloway, who met Rescorla at the 1965 battle at Ia Drang in Vietnam and wrote about it the best-selling book "We Were Soldiers Once ... and Young," which was made into a movie starring Mel Gibson.
A young Rescorla carrying a rifle at Ia Drang, pictured on the book's cover, was the inspiration for the bronze statue.
Rescorla was awarded both the Silver and Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart for his service in Vietnam. Retired Lt. Gen. Hal Moore, who co-authored the book with Galloway and attended the unveiling, called Rescorla "the best combat platoon leader I ever served with."
Rescorla's widow said the lessons he learned in Vietnam made the difference on Sept. 11.
"He made one last sweep, as he'd learned at Ia Drang, and was determined not to leave a single soldier behind," she said.
Rescorla was born in England. After Vietnam, where he served with the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, he became a U.S. citizen.
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..NEVER ever FORGET.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UcJo7dxOOU
..RICK RESCORLA.. http://rickrescorla.com
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Just finished re-reading “We Were Soldiers Once ... and Young” yesterday.
Advise everyone to read it carefully at least once. The first time for the accounts of the steadfast courage displayed by the regular army officers and by the young draftees, many of whom were mere weeks away from their release dates.
The second time paying attention to the political policies of LBJ and McNamara prior and subsequent to this Ia Drang valley action. The policies that were from the outset designed for failure. Micro management of the war for parochial political gain by the man whose ‘Great Society’ legacy costs are still being paid today. May those men burn in hell forever.
Bless you for keeping the light of remembrance alive through your site. I salute you and your comrades in arms.
Just finished re-reading “We Were Soldiers Once ... and Young” yesterday
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Excellent read and the movie is pretty decent also.
Another from that era you would probably enjoy is “A Bright Shining Lie”, Neil Sheehan about John Paul Vann, LTCOL who quit the Army and came back as USAID ‘fighter’.
Several works inre the USS Liberty fiasco show what buttheads Johnson/McNamara really were when it came to micro managing.
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