Rick Rescorla: Led thousands to safety on 9/11

This article originally appeared in Align on September 11, 2024. We repost it today in commemoration of Memorial Day.

Studying and emulating the lives of great men is a useful practice with a long history. Our culture, however, tends to promote celebrities, self-improvement gurus, and politicians.

Although no such luminaries proved of much use during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, many “ordinary” people found it within themselves to act with stunning courage and determination.

The story of
Rick Rescorla offers an especially poignant lesson for these times, involving as it does the triumph of individual know-how, experience, and common sense over bureaucratic “expertise.”

While serving as a platoon leader in the Vietnam War, the British-born Rescorla calmed his troops by singing to them. Years later, he employed the same tactic while helping evacuate the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

Twenty-three years on, it’s clear just how woefully unprepared our leaders were for 9/11. Rescorla, on the other hand, was ready.

Even before he became head of corporate security for Morgan Stanley, he had long warned anyone who would listen of the Twin Towers’ vulnerability to attack. When American Airlines Flight 11 hit the North Tower, the Port Authority ordered Rescorla to keep everyone at their desks.

His response, given his somewhat more intimate view of the unfolding crisis, was appropriately blunt: “Piss off.” The evacuation plan he’d insisted all employees rehearse through countless surprise drills went smoothly. His defiance saved some 2,700 lives.

Having led his charges at Morgan Stanley to safety, Rescorla went back into the building in search of more people to help. He was last seen on the 10th floor. He had never been comfortable calling attention to his wartime deeds, for which he was awarded a Silver Star and a Purple Heart. “The real heroes are dead,” he would say. When the South Tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m., Rescorla joined their ranks.