Nato nel 1939 in un paese, Hayle, della Cornovaglia, scoprì fin da bambino di essere portato a servire gli altri militando nell' Esercito. Prima in quello Inglese, nel Corpo dei Paracadutisti, a Cipro, e poi nella Polizia della Rhodesia del Nord, contro i terroristi marxisti. Ma fin da bambino era stato un ammiratore degli Stati Uniti, e così decise di emigrare negli USA, entrando nel 1963 nell' Esercito. Venne inquadrato nel 7° Cavalleggeri aviotrasportato , erede di quello ottocentesco del Ten.Colonnello Custer; inviato in Vietnam come sottotenente di pattuglia, volontario " per sconfiggere il comunismo" (come ricordato in un raro articolo del Corriere della Sera del Marzo 2002 a firma di Ennio Caretto), si fece onore in molti combattimenti, soprattutto nella Battaglia di la Drang, che ispirò un libro del Ten.Colonnello Hal. G. Moore e dell' inviato di guerra Joseph Halloway, anche loro partecipanti a quello scontro: " We Were Soldiers Once ... And Young", da cui il regista Randall Wallace trasse un suo film dal titolo quasi omonimo, con Mel Gibson nei panni di Moore; il quale gave a speech to his soldiers that he would probably inspired by the last day of Rescorla, " I can not guarantee that I will bring you all home alive, but one thing I swear: I will be the first to get on the battlefield and I will be the last to leave. I will not any of you behind. Dead or alive I swear, all come home. So help me God. ". Rescorla And it is the soldier photographed on the cover of the book on that battle, where 400 Americans resisted the violent attacks over two thousand Viet Cong. Rescorla in Vietnam not only covered himself with glory, earning several medals and decorations, but became known for the great interest in their subject, he wanted to know almost everything, and for the care he had for them, losing no more than eight or nine in the conflict, with a very low percentage, and despite the low rate of mortality, suffering greatly from each fall.
After the war he graduated in Law, taking care of security in private companies, until you get to be appointed Chief of Security Bank and Morgan Stanley , based in New York in about 20 floors of Tower Number 2 WTC, the World Trade Center. WTC which saw him among the leaders already at the first terrorist attack of 1993, the last man to leave the building after it has ascertained that there was no one left. Among other things, Rescorla l' anno precedente aveva avvisato la Port Authority (proprietaria del WTC) di un possibile attacco con bombe proprio nel parcheggio interno, come poi avvenne, rimanendo purtroppo inalscoltato. Nei successivi anni cercò ripetutamente di convincere la M&S di abbandonare Manhattan ed il WTC in particolare, che riteneva vulnerabilissimo a vari generi di attacchi, compreso quello aereo.
L' 11 Settembre avrebbe dovuto essere in vacanza in Toscana per i preparativi delle nozze della propria figliastra, ma decise di rimanere ancora un poco a New York per discutere con i vertici della banca M&S della causa in corso contro Port Authority per l' bombing of 1993. 8.46 when the first plane struck the neighboring tower, immediately 'Hero put in place the evacuation plan devised by himself, with a quarterly exercise to which every employee of the bank, including the most senior executives were required to undergo. Although the board is now at hand, and against the advice of senior staff of 'building that, regardless of' attack on the tower next to invited employees to come back in the office, Rescorla fell in a fury just like in Vietnam years earlier to save the lives entrusted to him, and shouldered a megaphone instead of a machine gun, giving them precise orders, accompanied by a "Be proud to be American" occasionally, except in 2700 brought the clerical M & S, continue up and down stairs, even after the building had been hit by the second plane. Finally, after making sure that everyone was safe, remembering the words of his colonel years earlier, returned to the tower to make sure that no one was left behind. Shortly thereafter, the tower collapsed, closing the 'hero forever, and his body was never found.
