EX-PLATOON
LEADER
REPEATED
SELFLESS
FEAT
OF
1993,
HELPING
LEAD
PEOPLE
OUT
TUESDAY
Sept.
14,
2001
BY
EMILIE
LOUNSBERRY
Knight
Ridder
NEW
YORK
--
As
security
head
at
Morgan
Stanley
Dean
Witter,
Rick
Rescorla
knew
the
drill:
He
had
ferried
employees
out
when
terrorism
first
struck
the
World
Trade
Center
in
1993,
and
he
was
there
with
his
bullhorn
Tuesday,
trying
once
again
to
get
his
people
out.
Nearly
all
of
them
did.
Rescorla
did
not.
He
is
one
of
the
15
Morgan
Stanley
employees
still
missing.
And
those
who
know
him
say
that
Rescorla,
who
was
in
his
44th-floor
office
in
the
trade
tower
struck
by
the
second
plane,
may
well
be
the
reason
the
vast
majority
of
the
3,700
Morgan
Stanley
employees
got
out
alive.
"Rick
was
down
toward
the
base
trying
to
make
sure
people
got
down
and
out,''
said
Bob
Sloss,
a
managing
director
at
Morgan
Stanley
who
last
saw
Rescorla
around
the
10th
floor
in
the
stairwell.
``He
was
definitely
there
well
after
it
had
been
established
that
the
building
was
in
trouble.''
Typical
Rescorla,
said
those
who
know
him
from
his
days
as
a
lieutenant
and
platoon
leader
in
Vietnam,
where
he
would
sing
to
his
men
at
tense
times
and
instill
in
them
the
courage
to
get
back
up
for
one
more
round
of
battle.
"He
couldn't
be
any
other
way,''
recalled
Sam
Fantino,
who
was
Rescorla's
radio
operator
in
Vietnam
and
has
been
flooded
with
e-mails
from
their
military
colleagues
bemoaning
the
possible
loss
of
Rescorla,
62,
in
the
World
Trade
Center
tragedy.
Morgan
Stanley
employees
remembered
stories
of
how
Rescorla
had
bounded
into
action
during
the
1993
bombing
at
the
trade
towers.
Fantino
said
Rescorla
took
a
rather
unconventional
approach
to
regaining
control
of
the
panic-stricken
crowd
as
he
tried
to
clear
the
building
that
day.
Natural
leader
"To
get
their
attention,
he
dropped
his
pants,''
recalled
Fantino.
Rescorla,
with
his
commanding
demeanor
and
voice,
was
just
the
type
you
want
in
charge,
whether
it
was
on
Tuesday
or
during
the
1993
attack,
he
said.
"He
was
literally
the
last
person
to
leave
that
building,''
another
Army
friend,
Joe
Galloway,
recalled
of
the
1993
bombing.
``He
stayed
until
he
had
gotten
everyone
out,
and
that
is
the
nature
of
the
man.''
"Anything
great
you
can
say
about
Rick
Rescorla,
please
do,''
said
Lt.
Gen.
Hal
Moore,
who
served
with
Rescorla
in
Vietnam
and
later
co-wrote
a
book,
``We
Were
Soldiers
Once
. . .
and
Young,''
about
their
experiences
fighting
in
the
Ia
Drang
valley
of
South
Vietnam
in
1965.
Indeed,
Rescorla's
photo
is
on
the
cover
of
the
book,
written
with
Galloway
and
now
being
made
into
a
movie
starring
Mel
Gibson.
"Rick
Rescorla
was
the
best
infantry
lieutenant
I've
seen,''
Moore
said
Friday
night.
``He
was
absolutely
superb.
Calm,
cool,
fearless,
very
professional,
inspiring,
and
all
of
this
without
any
intention
to
be
a
showoff.''
"He
is
a
true
American
hero,''
Moore
said,
``and
if
this
is
actually
going
to
be
called
a
war
. . .
then
Rick
deserves
a
Medal
of
Honor.''
Born
in
Hayle,
Cornwall,
in
England
in
1939,
Rescorla
served
as
a
mercenary
for
the
British
army
in
Zimbabwe,
and
then
became
a
police
officer
in
Rhodesia
before
coming
to
the
United
States
in
the
1960s
and
joining
the
Army.
Vietnam
veteran
He
was
a
platoon
leader
in
Vietnam,
where
Fantino
and
others
said
Rescorla
was
an
inspiration
to
his
troops.
He
could
make
them
laugh
with
a
joke
or
a
song,
and
somehow
inspire
them
to
get
up
and
``kick
some
butt''
in
battle.
He
put
himself
through
college
at
the
University
of
Oklahoma
on
the
G.I.
Bill,
and
went
on
to
get
a
master's
degree
and
a
law
degree.
Rescorla,
who
retired
as
a
colonel
in
the
Army
Reserve
in
1989,
had
worked
in
security
management
for
many
years,
including
the
past
18
working
for
Morgan
Stanley,
where
he
started
out
as
director
of
security
and
moved
up
to
first
vice
president
for
security.
Spread
between
the
43rd
and
66th
floors,
Morgan
Stanley
offices
were
buzzing
with
activity
Tuesday
when
the
first
plane
struck
the
neighboring
tower
at
8:45
a.m.
A
plane
hit
the
second
building
at
9:03
a.m.
Rescorla
was
in
his
office
when
the
disaster
hit.
His
wife,
Susan,
said
she
called
when
she
heard
the
news
and
was
told,
``Don't
worry
about
anything,
Rick
is
getting
the
people
out.''
Rescorla
called
about
10
minutes
later.
His
next
words
struck
terror
in
her
heart:
``If
anything
happens
to
me,''
he
just
wanted
her
to
know
that
``you
made
my
life.''
She
said
she's
heard
that
her
husband
was
going
from
floor
to
floor,
making
sure
people
were
out,
and
had
been
spotted
around
the
72nd
floor
at
one
point.
Since
then,
she's
been
praying
constantly
for
some
shred
of
evidence
that
he
might
somehow
be
alive,
caught
in
the
rubble.
Sloss,
who
was
in
his
office
on
the
66th
floor
when
the
plane
hit,
said
he
remembers
seeing
Rescorla
on
the
10th
floor,
telling
people
to
get
off
their
cell
phones
and
proceed
carefully
but
quickly.
"Rick
was
down
there
absolutely
perspiring,''
Sloss
said.
"He
had
his
bullhorn.
He
was
encouraging
people
to
calm
down.''
"If
anybody
could
get
(people)
out
or
do
anything,''
his
wife
said,
"it
was
my
Rick.''
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Notable
Veterans]
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