FReeper Canteen ~ Hall of Heroes: Rick Rescorla ~ January 18, 2010

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[Kathy in Alaska]

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~ Hall of Heroes ~

Info and some photos from WeWereSoldiers.net.

           

During combat in Vietnam, Lt. Rick Rescorla would sing to his troops to keep their spirits high while under fire. As head of security for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter in New York, Rescorla used the same tactics to calm co-workers as he led them from their offices during the attacks on the World Trade Center.

Rescorla survived battlefields in Southwest Asia, but he apparently was not so fortunate Sept. 11. Currently on the missing list, Rescorla was last seen in a 10th-floor staircase. He is credited with saving 3,800 colleagues, while sacrificing himself.

Rescorla is a featured character in "We Were Soldiers Once … And Young," a factual account of combat in Vietnam’s Ia Drang Valley. Written by Army Gen. Hal Moore and reporter Joe Galloway, the book is considered required reading among Army officers. Since the book was first published in 1996, the Army and Air Force Exchange Service has sold 47,000 copies, with more than 3,200 sold in the last year alone. The book was made into a Mel Gibson movie that is due out next spring.

"He was on the cover of the book," Galloway said, recalling the photo of Rescorla as a battle-weary lieutenant preparing for a bayonet charge with his M-16 rifle. Rescorla, 62, took charge during the terrorist attack on his building, just as if he was again in combat, Galloway said during a telephone interview from his home in Washington, D.C. "No one would have expected anything less of him," Galloway said. Rescorla was in his office on the 44th floor at 8:48 a.m., when the first plane struck the neighboring tower. At 9:10 a.m., a plane hit the second building where Morgan Stanley, an international financial services firm, had offices between the 43rd and 66th floors. Survivors said Rescorla grabbed a bullhorn and cleared out 3,800 workers from 20 floors. When newspapers published accounts of Rescorla’s calming office workers with his songs, Galloway remembered Rescorla singing Welsh mining songs during combat in Vietnam. Comrades who served with Rescorla said he would sing and tell jokes to motivate troops. "He was doing what he always did, singing to them," Galloway said. "Just as he did in battle."

In 1993, when terrorists bombed the World Trade Center, Rescorla also headed the evacuation. To get the crowd’s attention during that attack, he mooned them, Galloway said. "He was a genuine hero then," Galloway said. According to a press account, Morgan Stanley employee Bob Sloss last saw Rescorla in a 10th floor stairwell, calming the fleeing mob of office workers. "Rick was down toward the base trying to make sure people got down and out," Sloss was quoted in the report. "He was definitely there well after it had been established that the building was in trouble."

Born in Hayle, England, in 1939, Rescorla joined the U.S. Army in the 1960s and went to Vietnam as a platoon leader with the B Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry. In November 1965, his unit plunged into a battle at Landing Zone X-Ray, at the base of the Chu Pong, a 2,400-foot mountain in the Ia Drang Valley. He later survived a North Vietnamese ambush at nearby Landing Zone Albany that claimed the lives of 151 men in his unit. In the book, Rescorla played a significant part in repelling the enemy when they outnumbered his unit. Moore, the officer who led the battle at Landing Zone X-Ray, and Galloway, a UPI reporter who covered it, painted Rescorla as a likeable character, who was a skilled leader under fire. "Gen. Moore said he was the finest platoon leader in the Army," Galloway recalled.

After the war, Rescorla went to Oklahoma University on the G.I. bill, and later earned a master’s degree and a law degree. In 1989, he retired as a colonel in the Army Reserve. For the past 18 years, he had worked in security management for Morgan Stanley. During a televised celebrity fund-raiser following the attacks, Robin Williams told the nation of Rescorla’s heroism, Galloway said. Galloway said he will no doubt have Rescorla on his mind Nov. 16, as he speaks to members of the 1st Squadron, 4th U.S. Cavalry during the unit’s annual ball in Schweinfurt, Germany. "If you can go to the grave knowing you helped save people, it seems to be a life well-lived," Galloway said. "He died as he lived, a great soldier."

Rick Scavetta
Stars and Stripes  

 

  

More reading...it's well worth your time to click these links and remember a true modern day hero.  One of the sites records how many times people have remembered a hero by adding a flower at the bottom of the page for each visitor.  Please click through to find out which one it is!

 Rick Rescorla.com

 Rick Rescorla "Follow Me" Statue Unveiling

 The Official Site of the Presidential Medal of Freedom

 Mudville Gazette: Rick Rescorla Was A Soldier

 

 Blackfive: Rick Rescorla: Someone You Should Know

 Rick Rescorla: Cornish Hero

 LZXray.com: American Soldier

 We Were Soldiers Once And Young

 TapsBugler: From Vietnam to the World Trade Center

 All The Heroes Are Dead

 9-11 Heroes Page

 Armchair General: Rick Rescorla forum thread

 Modern Day Heroes: A Witness to the Heroism of Many (our own Aloha Ronnie!)

 

Thank you for your help, Aloha Ronnie!

Prayers going up for the family and friends of Rick Rescorla. 
May God bless you and give you comfort and peace. 
Rick was truly a hero. 

 

A hero is someone who has given his or herself to something bigger than oneself.
-Joseph Campbell

A hero is someone who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom.
-Bob Dylan (!)

This thread is a re-run and was first posted in the FReeper Canteen in 2007.  We can never remember our heroes too often. 

Please remember the Canteen is here to honor, support and entertain our troops and their families.  This is a politics-free zone!  Thanks for helping us in our mission!

[Kathy in Alaska]

And in second....steelyourfaith snags the silver!!

[The Mayor]

Freep mail me to be on or off the Daily Bread ping list

January 18, 2010

It Is My Business

ODB RADIO: Listen Now |  Download
READ: Leviticus 19:11-18

You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge . . . , but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. —Leviticus 19:18

In 1955, when the South was still highly segregated, Emmett Till, a black teenager from Chicago, visited relatives in Mississippi. After Emmett “dared” to talk to a white woman, two white men brutally murdered him. An all-white, male jury found the two “not guilty”—after deliberating for barely an hour. The two men later confessed to the crime in a Life magazine article.

Following the verdict, Emmett’s mother said, “Two months ago I had a nice apartment in Chicago. I had a good job. I had a son. When something happened to Negroes in the South, I said, ‘That’s their business, not mine.’ Now I know how wrong I was. The murder of my son has shown me that what happens to any of us, anywhere in the world, had better be the business of us all.”

Making another’s concerns our own is what Leviticus 19:18 calls us to do: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus quotes this verse and interprets it as not placing any limitations on loving those around us (Matt. 22:39; Luke 10:25-37). Our neighbor doesn’t just mean someone close by; it’s anyone who has a need. We are to care for others as we care for ourselves.

To love our neighbor means to make the persecution, suffering, and injustice of our fellow human beings our own. It is the business of all who follow Christ.

For Further Thought
How can we be a good neighbor? Be respectful to all. Lend a hand. Volunteer. Join a neighborhood association. Speak up when others are treated unjustly.

Compassion puts love into action.

Bible in One Year: Genesis 43-45; Matthew 12:24-50

[jocon307]

Thank you for making Rick Rescorla the focus of the Hall of Heroes. He certainly deserves to be there. I do not know if this is covered in other posts, but at the risk of being redundant I’ll say it here. Rick Rescorla was recognized as a huge hero after 9/11 for saving all his people on 9/11. His story was told in The New Yorker (yes, the New Yorker) magazine afterwords, with a deep appreciation for all his sacrifices. It was a fascinating article and discussed at length his relationship with another man he had served with in war. This other man later converted to Islam, and became concerned with much of what he heard in various Mosques (in the US). It was this “inside” knowledge that enabled Rescorla to be wise to the threats abounding.

This coverage was all in the first days after 9/11, before the Dems got wise to the idea that this whole patriotism thing might help the Pubbies. It was after that that the new unity that the attacks of 9/11 had sadly forged was (I truly believe) willfully and maliciously torn apart by the Democratic Party.

All hyperbole aside, I will never forgive them for that.

Thank God Almighty in Heaven that there are to this day men like Rick Rescorla. And Thank God for FR that gives honor to them.

If anyone wants to research the piece in the New Yorker, I hope you can find it. His wife (widow) also did a bunch of interviews, their story is very romantic.

I hate what the Dem Party has done to this country since 9/11.

If the mods take my post down, so be it. But thank you for giving me the opportunity to express myself.

God Bless Rick Rescorla, God Bless Wales, Australia and the USA.

[Kathy in Alaska]

And rounding out the top 3....freedumb bags the bronze!!

[Kathy in Alaska]

[Kathy in Alaska]

[Kathy in Alaska]

[tongue-tied]

Cool! Like the new medallion.

I'm doing good, we're getting some rain starting tonight and then a storm every day for the next 5. Woohoo! Snow by midweek.

[freedumb2003]

:)

[PERKY2004]

In!

[Kathy in Alaska]

StarCMC did a great job, with the help of Aloha Ronnie, of putting together this presentation on Rick Rescorla...a true hero!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Thanks, Nana Hope, for today's Pledge. Thanks, AfghanMan and Penguin Girl, for your service to America.

[Cindy]

BUMP.

[MS.BEHAVIN]

Please welcome my dear freind Lady Nam Vet to The Canteen!
Lady, are you here?

[Kathy in Alaska]

Cargo is loaded onto a U.S. Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft at Hurlburt Field, Fla., for transport to Haiti in support of humanitarian operations on Jan. 14, 2010. The Air Force is providing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to Haiti after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit the country on Jan. 12, 2010. DoD photo by Tech. Sgt. James L. Harper Jr., U.S. Air Force. (Released)

U.S. Navy C-2A Greyhound transport aircraft from Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 40 prepare to deploy from Norfolk, Va., to support the first wave of earthquake relief efforts in Haiti on Jan. 14, 2010. This is part of a larger relief effort spearheaded by the U.S. government to help those affected by the 7.0 magnitude earthquake. DoD photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Scott D. Cohen, U.S. Navy. (Released)

[Kathy in Alaska]

Welcome to the Canteen, Lady Nam Vet.

[Kathy in Alaska]

USA produces the greatest heroes!

Good evening, free...you sure got that right!

[MS.BEHAVIN]

When you are new here, it can be kinda tricky to maneuver around...
Hang in there Lady, and keep trying!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, ms b...((HUGS))...hope you got some rest today.

[SevenofNine]

This being reproted on Twitter remember those Chinese riots well now cell phone service being restored by the Chinese six month after riot

BOY Chinese pretty fast NOT

BreakingNews Text-messaging service is restored in Xinjiang region of China, 6 months after ethnic riots in capital

And China throw a diva fit

Drudge_Report China move threatens to delay Iran sanctions... http://tinyurl.com/yd9qbvj