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There are so many incredible stories of heroism from this day, but, I will highlight that of Rick Rescorla. [1] After 1993, before 9/11: > Feeling that the au
by blamazon 3y ago
There are so many incredible stories of heroism from this day, but, I will highlight that of Rick Rescorla. [1]
After 1993, before 9/11:
> Feeling that the authorities lost legitimacy after they failed to respond to his 1990 warnings, he concluded that employees of Morgan Stanley, which was the largest tenant in the World Trade Center, could not rely on first responders in an emergency and needed to empower themselves through surprise fire drills, in which he trained employees to meet in the hallway between stairwells and go down the stairs two by two to the 44th floor. Rescorla's strict approach to these drills put him into conflict with some high-powered executives, who resented the interruption to their daily activities, but he nonetheless insisted that these rehearsals were necessary to train the employees in the event of an emergency. He timed employees with a stopwatch when they moved too slowly and lectured them on fire emergency basics.
On 9/11:
> When a Port Authority announcement came over the P.A. system urging people to stay at their desks, and before United Airlines Flight 175 would strike the South Tower at 9:03 A.M., Rescorla ignored the announcement, grabbed his bullhorn, walkie-talkie and cell phone, and began systematically to order the roughly 2,700 Morgan Stanley employees in the South Tower to evacuate, in addition to the employees in WTC 5, numbering around 1,000.
> After successfully evacuating almost all of Morgan Stanley's 2,700 employees, he went back into the building. When one of his colleagues told him he too had to evacuate the World Trade Center, Rescorla replied, "As soon as I make sure everyone else is out." He was last seen on the 10th floor of the South Tower, heading upward, shortly before its collapse at 9:59 A.M., 56 minutes after being struck by United Airlines Flight 175. A total of 13 Morgan Stanley employees died in the September 11 attacks, including Rescorla, his deputies Wesley Mercer and Jorge Valezquez, and security guard Godwin Forde, who had collectively stayed behind to help others.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Rescorla https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Rescorla
- Lord-Jobo 3y agoA true, no bullshit, hero. I was never a boyscout, but 'be prepared" is a motto I try to stand behind.
- sanderjd 3y agoThank you for that story. Do you know of a book that covers the event from this angle? I'm totally tapped out on the usual treatment of the event focused on geopolitics before and after it, but I would like to read in long form about the actions of the actual people there and nearby that day.
- esotericimpl 3y agohttps://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/02/11/september-11th-attacks-world-trade-center-rick-rescorla-the-real-heroes-are-dead https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/02/11/september-11th... This is the greatest article written for an actual 9/11 hero.
- blamazon 3y agoI'm not immediately aware of a solid consolidated book on this regard, it's a bit scattered to my knowledge over many journalistic articles and oral histories. If anyone else has a recommendation I am interested as well. Anyhow, a good place to start on researching this topic might be the 9/11 Tribute Memorial and Museum's YouTube channel where they have some clips from survivor accounts[1], many of these individuals you can google their names and find articles from the time period, for example Stanley Praimnath and Brian Clark. [2] The 9/11 Museum also holds many more oral histories, and transcripts. [3] One account that sticks with me is from a Reddit user that fled lower Manhattan on an abandoned bicycle. [4] There are similar stories in the comments of that post. I do actually have a book recommendation I have read but it's more about what happened in the months after the events of 9/11: "American Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade Center" [5] [1] https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqCjsbFgQNH7awCj8Q-PJa9Kb9cPDxP2Z https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqCjsbFgQNH7awCj8Q-PJa9Kb... [2] https://web.archive.org/web/20070827041945/http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/09/09/ar911.last.ones.out/index.html https://web.archive.org/web/20070827041945/http://archives.c... [3] https://www.911memorial.org/learn/resources/oral-histories https://www.911memorial.org/learn/resources/oral-histories [4] https://old.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/zpxyv/i_submit_this_every_year_on_911_i_escaped_ground/ https://old.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/zpxyv/i_submit_this_e... [5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Ground https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Ground
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- xeonmc 3y agoVideo interview of him before 9/11: https://vimeo.com/441396612 https://vimeo.com/441396612
- reducesuffering 3y agoHe predicted it happening so eloquently too. What an outstanding exemplar hero.