Rick and Susan Rescorla

(Note: reposted from 2005-08-10 17:47:33)

Having met one of the latest heroes in the war on terror we now revisit one of the first.

Meet Mrs. Susan Rescorla, widow of Rick, in a radio interview here. (Scroll to 'Show Archives' - April 16, 2005, Parts 1 & 2)

She recently notified us via email of this upcoming History Channel series, one episode of which is dedicated to Rick:

Press Release Source: The History Channel

NEW YORK, Aug. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- September 11, 2001 now serves as the infamous reference point for the climate of terrorist-induced fear that has become a hallmark of the modern world. A wave of Islamic fundamentalist anger that had gained momentum for decades crashed upon the United States on that day four years ago, and the reverberations are still felt today and will be for years come. In five world premiere programs, The History Channel looks at the roots of today's Islamic Fundamentalist movement, the men behind 9/11 --- including Osama bin Laden and the hysteria and heroism that marked the most chaotic moments of the 9/11 catastrophe.

THE MAN WHO PREDICTED 9/11 (WORLD PREMIERE Sunday, September 11 at 8pm ET/PT)

In 2001, Rick Rescorla was the 62-year-old head of security at the Morgan Stanley Bank situated high up in the South Tower at the World Trade Center. For 6 years Rescorla was convinced that terrorists would use jet planes to try and destroy the World Trade Center. Long before September 11th, he developed an evacuation plan for the bank, unpopular amongst some city whiz kids who worked there who thought he was mad. His evacuation plan however ultimately saved 2,700 lives.

Rescorla's evacuation plan was put into effect after the first jet hit the North Tower. When the second jet hit the South Tower, he averted panic and organized a rapid evacuation of Morgan Stanley staff. Rescorla sang Cornish folk songs to calm nerves while thousands trooped down the stair wells. Rescorla went back inside to help those injured and trapped get out. He was still inside when the building collapsed. His body was never found.

THE MAN WHO PREDICTED 9/11 tells Rescorla's extraordinary story from his English childhood, to his heroics in Vietnam to his work as a/the security officer at the World Trade Center where he became convinced that an attack was imminent. It follows the dramatic timeline of what happened to Rick between 8:45 a.m. when the first plane hit Tower 1 and 9:58 a.m. when Tower 2 -- and 500,000 tons of steel and concrete -- collapsed on top of him. It features interviews with his biographer, Pulitzer Prize winning author James Stewart, his wife Susan, many of the men and women whose lives he saved that day, and footage of Rescorla making his predictions.

And stop by the Richard C. Rescorla Memorial Foundation too.

Update note: A DVD will be available soon. And following this program you won't want to miss The Flight That Fought Back on the Discovery channel. (Hint: DVDs of these programs would probably be appreciated by the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan...)