The Man Who Walked Back Up the Stairs

On September 11, 2001, Rick Rescorla stood in the stairwell of the World Trade Center's South Tower with a bullhorn in hand and a lifetime of preparation behind him. The Cornish-born Vietnam veteran had served with the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry at the Battle of Ia Drang in 1965. As head of security for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, he had studied the towers' vulnerabilities after the 1993 bombing and warned leadership that terrorists would strike again — this time from the air.

When the second plane hit the South Tower at 9:03 AM, Rescorla was already moving. He guided Morgan Stanley's 2,687 employees down the stairwells, singing to keep them calm. Nearly every one of them made it out alive.

Then Rick Rescorla turned around and walked back up the stairs. He was last seen on the tenth floor, heading higher, searching for stragglers. The South Tower collapsed at 9:59 AM. His body was never recovered.

Proverbs 27:12 says, "The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty." Rescorla saw the danger years before it arrived. He prepared when others shrugged. He acted when others froze. And when the moment came, he did not simply take refuge himself — he ensured 2,687 others found refuge first, then gave his life reaching for more.