A Day at The Museum...

I was lucky enough to spend this past Memorial Day with my family. We spent a couple of days at Fort Benning, as DH is still in school.

He had been telling me about how absolutely brilliant, driven, and focused his classmates are. I am proud to hear he is in such good company. Although as a military spouse, this does not surprise me. I know how amazing these men are. I married one.

We spent part of the weekend at The Infantry Museum, which I have been to many times. Every visit, I learn something new, or see something I missed the last visit.

So for Memorial Day, my DH and I tried to explain the significance of the day, I walked the Collective through the memorials that line the park across from The Infantry Museum. I read the Memorials, Sir Rowland reading with me. Looking through names of those who have died. I am not sure how much they understood....

We took the children inside of The Infantry Museum, and signed the guest book, and entered. As with all quiet museums, we tried to keep the children quiet, but interested. They liked sitting in the Bradley with Daddy, as he explained which buttons did what. Pink Ninja liked looking at the various knife and sword displays.

The Museum was very busy on this day, many in attendence. Older men in wheelchairs, young fresh faced Privates in uniform. Some Veterans were touring alone, others with spouses, and some in groups. All taking the time to stop and examine what they could.

We as a family spent a little over 2 hours in the Museum, which was not enough. And on the way out, we stopped at the obligatory gift shop. Just outside of the gift shop, I see a large photo of Rick Rescorala. I stopped immediately, this was new, they had a knife that belonged to him, his medals. A brief piece about him at the side. And I read it, and stood amazed at this mans spirit.

This is not the only hero at The Museum, there are others, and I tried to stop at each. Some, I recognized the story or the name.

During combat in Vietnam, Lt. Rick Rescorla would sing to his troops to keep their spirits high while under fire. As head of security for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter in New York, Rescorla used the same tactics to calm co-workers as he led them from their offices during the attacks on the World Trade Center.

Rescorla survived battlefields in Southwest Asia, but he apparently was not so fortunate Sept. 11. Currently on the missing list, Rescorla was last seen in a 10th-floor staircase. He is credited with saving 3,800 colleagues, while sacrificing himself.

Rescorla is a featured character in "We Were Soldiers Once … And Young," a factual account of combat in Vietnam’s Ia Drang Valley. Written by Army Gen. Hal Moore and reporter Joe Galloway, the book is considered required reading among Army officers. Since the book was first published in 1996, the Army and Air Force Exchange Service has sold 47,000 copies, with more than 3,200 sold in the last year alone. The book was made into a Mel Gibson movie that is due out next spring.

"He was on the cover of the book," Galloway said, recalling the photo of Rescorla as a battle-weary lieutenant preparing for a bayonet charge with his M-16 rifle. Rescorla, 62, took charge during the terrorist attack on his building, just as if he was again in combat, Galloway said during a telephone interview from his home in Washington, D.C. "No one would have expected anything less of him," Galloway said. Rescorla was in his office on the 44th floor at 8:48 a.m., when the first plane struck the neighboring tower. At 9:10 a.m., a plane hit the second building where Morgan Stanley, an international financial services firm, had offices between the 43rd and 66th floors. Survivors said Rescorla grabbed a bullhorn and cleared out 3,800 workers from 20 floors. When newspapers published accounts of Rescorla’s calming office workers with his songs, Galloway remembered Rescorla singing Welsh mining songs during combat in Vietnam. Comrades who served with Rescorla said he would sing and tell jokes to motivate troops. "He was doing what he always did, singing to them," Galloway said. "Just as he did in battle."

In 1993, when terrorists bombed the World Trade Center, Rescorla also headed the evacuation. To get the crowd’s attention during that attack, he mooned them, Galloway said. "He was a genuine hero then," Galloway said. According to a press account, Morgan Stanley employee Bob Sloss last saw Rescorla in a 10th floor stairwell, calming the fleeing mob of office workers. "Rick was down toward the base trying to make sure people got down and out," Sloss was quoted in the report. "He was definitely there well after it had been established that the building was in trouble."

Born in Hayle, England, in 1939, Rescorla joined the U.S. Army in the 1960s and went to Vietnam as a platoon leader with the B Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry. In November 1965, his unit plunged into a battle at Landing Zone X-Ray, at the base of the Chu Pong, a 2,400-foot mountain in the Ia Drang Valley. He later survived a North Vietnamese ambush at nearby Landing Zone Albany that claimed the lives of 151 men in his unit. In the book, Rescorla played a significant part in repelling the enemy when they outnumbered his unit. Moore, the officer who led the battle at Landing Zone X-Ray, and Galloway, a UPI reporter who covered it, painted Rescorla as a likeable character, who was a skilled leader under fire. "Gen. Moore said he was the finest platoon leader in the Army," Galloway recalled.

After the war, Rescorla went to Oklahoma University on the G.I. bill, and later earned a master’s degree and a law degree. In 1989, he retired as a colonel in the Army Reserve. For the past 18 years, he had worked in security management for Morgan Stanley. During a televised celebrity fund-raiser following the attacks, Robin Williams told the nation of Rescorla’s heroism, Galloway said. Galloway said he will no doubt have Rescorla on his mind Nov. 16, as he speaks to members of the 1st Squadron, 4th U.S. Cavalry during the unit’s annual ball in Schweinfurt, Germany. "If you can go to the grave knowing you helped save people, it seems to be a life well-lived," Galloway said. "He died as he lived, a great soldier."

Rick Scavetta
Stars and Stripes

I stood there for a moment, and I felt so lucky to be spending the day with my family on a military base. Where Memorial Day is spent solemnly and I was proud to be married to my Husband, and proud to be Mother of children who serve and do not realize it.......

And within an instant my pride got pushed aside by anger....because of the following.

A Husband and Wife mid-40's are standing at the area honoring Mr. Rescerola. They are with their young son in uniform, and another young man in uniform. The Wife stops at the display, and begs her Husband to read the incredible but brief account they have for Mr. Recorala.

The husband says..."Do you know this guy? What is the big deal, there are a lot of dead people to read about in here, we will be here all day."

And I stood horrified. I really did.

My immediate thought being, what if Mr. Recsorala's family was here on this day, and heard this being said.....I am not kin, and it hurt my heart to hear those words.

"What is the big deal?"

I thought about my children having to hear that about their Father.....

And I decided to talk to this man. I couldn't help it. It took everything I had to be kind and nice about it. But I wanted him to know, he was in OUR house, and it is Memorial Day. Let us mourn those we have lost, and respect those we have lost...I also tried to educate him about Mr. Rescorla, with what I knew about him, which was not enough. I was as nice as I could muster...

The man left The Museum, and sat in his car.....I asked DH if I was out of line, I was not.

I had the luck of seeing the man the next morning at our hotel, he was sipping hot coffee, and chewing on a sour cream laden bagel. Our eyes met, and he retreated to the elevators...



To Be Continued...