The 9/11 story that I cannot forget belongs to Rick Rescorla

his life was book-ended by two moments of bravery - going above and beyond in answering the call of duty

finally giving his life so that others would live

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born in Cornwall, Rick immigrated to the US out of a sheer desire to fight and destroy communism - he saw the effects of his enemy first-hand with the British Army in Cyprus and Rhodesia from 1957-1963 as an inspector & MP

he left the UK because he wasn't done fighting

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he immigrated to the US, living in a YMCA in Brooklyn until he could enlist

he joined the US Army with the backing of a friend, Dan Hill, and wrapped up Basic at Fort Dix & OCS at Fort Benning just in time for the shit to go down in Southeast Asia

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he was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), best known in popular culture by either George Custer's last stand or Kubrick's famous Ride of the Valkyries scene from Apocalypse now

in 1965, Recorla's unit learned first-hand and early about the horrors to come in Vietnam, landing in the Ia Drang valley and in the first major battle between US & Vietnamese forces were almost immediately surrounded and ripped into shreds by the North Vietnamese Army

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in battle, Recorla was a revelation - seemingly everywhere at once, cheering up his men, comforting the dying, rallying troops with an M16 in one hand and M79 grenade launcher in the other - like fucking John Rambo in real life he singlehandedly destroyed a machine-gun nest

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his battalion commander, Hal Moore, who would go on to earn three stars, called him "the greatest platoon commander I have ever seen."

https://history.army.mil/news/2015/151100a_Rescorla.html

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41 years later, the US Army Infantry School at Fort Benning would unveil on its memorial walk a statue of Rescorla - the caption on the pedestal says everything about Rescorla as a soldier: "LEAVE NO MAN BEHIND."

but we're getting ahead of ourselves

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Rescorla came home, earned his citizenship, and with the GI Bill graduated with a law degree & taught criminal justice. He didn't retire from the Army Reserve until 1990, and only then took a job in corporate security for Dean Witter & then Morgan Stanley - in New York

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A decade ticked by. In 2000, learning that Moore's book about Ia Drang was being made into a movie starring Mel Gibson, Resorla was deeply uncomfortable with the portrayal of he and other combat survivors as heroes.

Rescorla told his wife curtly, "the real heroes are dead."

He was on duty and at his post at 8:46 AM on September 11 - when the first airplane crashed into Tower 1 next door, he moved with the same sense of purpose as he did 36 years earlier - Rescorla was a man of action

his mission: get his team to safety

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Ignoring orders from the Port Authority to stand fast, bullhorn-in-hand he began rapidly moving across 22 separate floors, and at day's end had successfully evacuated 2,687 of the 2,700 Morgan Stanley employees

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after several trips his colleague Bob Sloss passes Rick on the 10th floor, heading back up the stairs. Sloss urged him to get to safety himself.

"I will as soon as everyone else is out."

Sloss was the last person to see him alive

the soldier's code: leave no man behind

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for more please take a moment and read @JamesStewartNYT 's beautiful 2002 study of Rescorla, and in particular to understand who he left behind when he went back up those stairs in 2001

https://newyorker.com/magazine/2002/02/11/the-real-heroes-are-dead

his book: Heart of a Soldier

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for me, Rescorla's story epitomizes the citizen soldier, and what we should all strive to be as veterans - ready to serve in ways big and small at a moment's notice

the best of us never really take off the uniform

http://stsw.com/2015/09/the-citizen-solider.html

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Stewart sums it up best, in a fitting tribute from his friend Dan Hill:

"There are certain men born in this world, and they’re supposed to die setting an example for the rest of the weak bastards we’re surrounded with.”

https://newyorker.com/magazine/2002/02/11/the-real-heroes-are-dead

the real heroes are dead

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