Talk:Rick Rescorla

Comment by 67.121.112.80
There are other links we could add about this person: NNDB, other veteran web sites, but I will refrain for the moment. He was a real American hero. -- 67.121.112.80 13:06, 3 July 2006 (UTC)


 * NNDB is not considered a reliable source, per a number of discussions on the Reliable Sources Noticeboard:, , . Nightscream (talk) 23:24, 21 August 2013 (UTC)

Early Life - U.S. Troops preparing for Vietnam in 1943??
I'm not sure what's up with what currently reads "In 1943, Hayle served as headquarters for the 175th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. 29th Infantry Division, largely composed of soldiers from Maryland and Virginia, which was preparing for a tour in Vietnam. Young Rescorla idolized the American soldiers." This has been altered with both 1963 and 1943 used as dates and "the invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe" in place of "a tour in Vietnam". I know of no US Army divisions which staged in England for a tour in Vietnam, in 1943 or 1963, so this should definitely be fact-checked and cleaned up. Krazychris81 (talk) 18:50, 4 August 2008 (UTC)

Image copyright problem with File:We Were Soldiers Once...and Young.jpg
The image File:We Were Soldiers Once...and Young.jpg is used in this article under a claim of fair use, but it does not have an adequate explanation for why it meets the requirements for such images when used here. In particular, for each page the image is used on, it must have an explanation linking to that page which explains why it needs to be used on that page. Please check


 * That there is a non-free use rationale on the image's description page for the use in this article.
 * That this article is linked to from the image description page.

This is an automated notice by FairuseBot. For assistance on the image use policy, see Media copyright questions. --01:15, 5 November 2008 (UTC)

Dead Link
The link to the video called "The Voice of the Prophet" no longer works. Does anyone have an updated or alternative link to the video? Isa alcala (talk) 18:15, 15 March 2009 (UTC)

Number of deaths
The Time magazine article says there are 13 deaths ("When the tower collapsed, only 13 Morgan Stanley colleagues--including Rescorla and four of his security officers--were inside.", I assume non of the 13 survived), as this article -refering to the Time magazine- says 6 persons died (all but 6 of Morgan Stanley's 2700 WTC employees survived). Is my assumption wrong or is there a mistake? --Rcsmit (talk) 00:32, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

Not everybody inside the buildings were killed during the collapse. 79.73.211.130 (talk) 01:05, 11 June 2010 (UTC)

Stewart book
Heart of a Soldier by James B. Stewart, is about Rescorla. An interested editor ought to incorporate this reference into the article.--S. Rich (talk) 17:16, 17 August 2010 (UTC)


 * Would be very cautious about relying on a work for historical or biographical details that includes claims (presumably from Hill?) like this that the author / editors didn't bother to check for plausibility:
 * "With the death of Hammarskjöld, the remaining hopes for a peaceful solution to Katanga’s secession were dashed. Hill and his troops hadn’t seen any action, but rumors kept circulating in the restaurants and bars of Elizabethville that Lumumba was organizing troops in the north to crush the Tshombe-led independence movement in Katanga."
 * (Lumumba was dead months before Hammarskjold). He also elides Hill's insinuation that he provided the bomb that killed Hammarskjold, but maybe that did catch the editors' attention. 2600:1702:6D1:28B0:90F9:504C:8743:7F61 (talk) 17:51, 6 May 2023 (UTC)

Amero-Centric
The "Early life" section appear very Amero-centric - for example, not even naming the British boxer that Mauriello fought. There are a couple of other places too. Lord British (talk) 16:25, 11 September 2011 (UTC)

List of those who died
This edit added names and removed a source. Is there a source for all of these names? Jesanj (talk) 17:41, 12 September 2011 (UTC)

How did a brit get around immigration and join the US Army?
I know it's the 1960s but how did Rescorla enlist? Does the US Army have something of the French Foreign Legion about it? Could you just sign up as long as you were wanted? What did he do with his British citizenship? He couldn't have been a naturalised American citizen at that point?

This part of his life is just as interesting as his bravery on 9/11. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.179.178.70 (talk) 20:40, 22 June 2012 (UTC)

Cornish song?
Changing the words of 'Men of Harlech' to say Cornwall instead of Harlech doesn't make it a Cornish song, it's a Welsh song. 31.52.160.196 (talk) 01:47, March 31, 2013


 * I've amended the passage to clarify the point. Thanks.


 * Also, please make sure you sign your talk page posts, which makes it easier for everyone to know who they're addressing. You can do this by typing four tildes (~) at the end of them, which also automatically time stamps them. Nightscream (talk) 13:24, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Consensus discussion: Military career sectioning
The UK and US military career material constitutes three paragraphs and two lines, which fits neatly into one section. The material on his service for each of those two countries is not large enough to justify two separate sections. Corbynz disagrees, and insists that they be two different sections, because Rescorla's service for the two countries need to be individually distinguished via individual sections. What do the other editors here think? Nightscream (talk) 23:19, 21 August 2013 (UTC)


 * If it must be split, then two subsections of a general "Military career" section would suffice. I think it looks fine as one section though. Bretonbanquet (talk) 23:32, 21 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Comment: In response to a request, I offer the following opinion. (Note, it is based on my reading of the material in the article, not who thinks what.) First, too much of the material in these sections is unreferenced. Second, his military careers deserve one section with two subsections. The major amount of detail should be in the US subsection considering he received the Silver Star. Fleshing out the subsections with WP:RS will serve to make a smooth transition from one to the other, with his Met tenure at the end of the UK material. – S. Rich (talk) 23:37, 21 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Comment: I agree that it would be a good idea to have one military section with a US subsection and a UK subsection. KConWiki (talk) 01:24, 22 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Comment: I got pinged for my opinion, I don't recall having looked at this article before now... I agree with others that separate subsections for UK and US, within a single military-career section sounds sensible. His whole military career (and related facets, like police) seems like a major phase of his life. But his two separate countries' service seems like separate ideas. I would not normally support such a segmenting, since they were nearly continuous in time, related in his personal stance, and not excessively long on content. But being in two different countries' service sounds unusual, or at least his changed country makes a clear break into two phases of his military career chronologically, and his whole article is organized chronologically with sections by phase. DMacks (talk) 04:03, 22 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Comment:I think, with the amount of information so far in the article, and allowing for more sourced material being added in future, that a two phase Military Career section divided between British and US service is logical. It is also useful as there are national differences in systems of rank and formation, posting, training etc.Cloptonson (talk) 05:39, 22 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Comment: Due to the two periods of military service being distinct and separated from each other and the chronological nature of this portion of the article, keeping them as two sections is good. Whether they are two headings or two subheadings does not matter, as long as they are kept distinct. LanthanumK (talk) 09:36, 22 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Two sections. Let's make it as easy as possible to navigate the page. bd2412  T 20:42, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

Celtic descent
"Rescorla’s family was of Celtic descent, like much of the original ethnic population of Cornwall."

Can someone point out where that's sourced, please? Thanks. Not entirely sure of its relevance either, or what the "original ethnic population" of Cornwall might mean. I'd be interested to know exactly how anyone could trace their family back to the Celts. Bretonbanquet (talk) 00:29, 8 September 2013 (UTC)


 * If there's no objection here, I'll remove that sentence in a few days. Bretonbanquet (talk) 12:47, 15 September 2013 (UTC)

Rank "Colonel"
His rank is given as Colonel in the information box. I can't find where in the article it says he was a colonel. Also, it says that he served in the US military until 1990, but the article contradicts that, saying that he left the military after Vietnam. NotYourFathersOldsmobile (talk) 01:28, 25 September 2016 (UTC)

Criminal justice textbook
The textbook on criminal justice which he supposedly authored does not show up on the usual search engines. Surely this needs a citation. NotYourFathersOldsmobile (talk) 10:37, 30 August 2017 (UTC)

Name discrepancy
The article says his name is Cyril Richard Rescorla. The picture of his name at the memorial says his name is Richard Cyril Rescorla. I just wanted to draw attention to this issue. If his name is wrong on the memorial, perhaps that information should be added to the image caption.