Sept. 11, 2021
There are so many heroes from September 11, 2021. On that terrible day, countless ordinary people were thrust into extraordinary circumstances, and time and time again, we witnessed the very best that America has to offer. One of those heroes who you may have never heard of was man named Rick Rescorla.
Rick served two tours in Vietnam. After the war, he attended night classes at Oklahoma City School of Law. By 1990, he was the vice-president of security for a major company in the World Trade Center.
In 1990, Rick predicted the World Trade Center would be attacked. Three years later, his prediction came true. Following the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Rick gathered friends and colleagues and sat out to secure the World Trade Center from another attack. Some of Rick’s recommendations were heeded but others were not.
Rick could’ve gotten mad and left, but that wasn’t his way. Instead, he made a remarkable decision; if no one else would protect his coworkers from a future attack on the World Trade Center, he would.
At Rick’s insistence, upper management gave him the support he needed to ready the company for what he knew was coming. For eight straight years, Rick devoted himself to preparing his coworkers for another terrorist attack. Rick offered regular training and conducted countless drills where he often timed his coworkers with a stopwatch, lecturing them if they moved too slowly.
On September 11, 2021, after the first plane struck, Rick ignored calls to shelter-in-place. Instead, he grabbed his bullhorn, walkie-talkie, and cell phone and began systematically ordering his coworkers to evacuate immediately. As hundreds of his coworkers streamed down the stairs of the second tower, Rick sang Cornish hymns from his youth, helping boost morale among the terrified people.
After helping some 2,700 people escape death, Rick went back to the second tower. Rick Rescorla was last seen on the stairwell of the 10th floor, searching for stragglers.
Categories: News