Rick Rescorla: A Life of Service and Sacrifice

Rick Rescorla Background Information

Cyril Richard ("Rick") Rescorla was born in the port town of Hayle in the county of Cornwall in the southwest part of England in 1939. Rescorla held a strong interest in America from his childhood in Hayle, a British seaport that served as a staging area for the World War II landing at Normandy. Friends shared that he spoke admiringly of the ideals of American democracy.

Training as a paratrooper in the British Army after enlisting in 1957, Rescorla served in an intelligence unit in Cyprus and as a paramilitary police inspector in what is now Zambia before immigrating to the United States in 1963. Once in New York, he enlisted in the U.S. Army with a recruiter in Times Square.

Rick Rescorla's Vietnam Service Questions

Based on the documents above, summarize Rick Rescorla's Vietnam service.

• What do these documents reveal about Rick Rescorla's character?

Rick Rescorla's Naturalization Questions

Based on the document above, summarize Rick Rescorla's naturalization process of becoming a US citizen.

• What does this document reveal about Rick Rescorla's character?

Rick Rescorla 9/11 Background

As vice president for corporate security for the financial firm Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co., Rick Rescorla was in charge of safety for approximately 2,700 employees in the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Following the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, Rescorla began to develop an emergency evacuation plan and had staff regularly practice evacuating the building.

On 9/11, his planning and actions that day helped save nearly all 2,700 employees. Rick Rescorla was last seen heading up the stairs of the South Tower to make sure that everyone had made it out. He was one of the nearly 3,000 people who lost their lives that day.

Rick Rescorla 9/11 Service Questions

Based on the documents above, summarize Rick Rescorla's service on 9/11.

• What do these documents reveal about Rick Rescorla's character?