Heart of
a Soldier SF Opera Opens Dress Rehearsal to Aid Veterans Memorial Project
in support of the san francisco veterans Memorial Project, the San Francisco Opera generously opened its final dress rehearsal to Veterans, their families and guests for its production of “Heart of a Soldier” — an extraordinary new opera about the life of Rick Rescorla. Three days later, “Heart of a Soldier” had its world pre- miere.
This was a significant gesture by SF Opera General
Director David Gockley, to support fundraising for the San Francisco Veterans Memorial Project. The Project repre- sents our community’s commitment to fulfill the 75-year promise to build a Veterans Memorial in the Memorial Court situated between the War Memorial Opera House and Veterans Building.
“Heart of a Soldier” is about US Army Veteran Rick Rescorla, whose photo appeared on the cover of war correspondent Joe Galloway’s book We Were Soldiers Once…and Young. Rescorla is a prominent figure in Joe’s book. A movie adaptation, called “We Were Soldiers,” starred Mel Gibson as LtCol Hal Moore and Barry Peters as Joe Galloway.
Eight years ago, Joe Galloway came to the Marines’ Memorial to speak and to introduce a screening of the movie. Below are excerpts from Joe’s speech about Rick Rescorla.
“Rick Rescorla was an Englishman, a native of Cornwall. He was big, tough, cocky. He had served as a London police- man, and then in the British army in Cyprus, and in the ter- ritorials in Rhodesia fighting guerrillas. All that before he came to America to join our army and help us fight the communists in Vietnam. Rick was first in his class in everything he did. He sailed through officer candidate school and got his lieutenant bars, before heading to Vietnam with the 1st Cavalry Division airmobile. “On the Ia Drang battlefield at LZ XRay, his company took over the lines of Charlie Company 1st Battalion after it
12 Crossroads Winter 2011-12
was virtually wiped out on the second morning of battle. Rick and his company commander, Myron Diduryk, had time to study their positions. They had the men move in to shorten their lines, then dig deep, three-man foxholes. Then they had them go out and cut the tall grass to clear fields of fire. They set out booby traps and intruder signals. They had the artillery liaison, Lt. Bill Lund, register his fires up, down and sideways on that field. “…Through a long, scary night… Rick Rescorla moved from hole to hole reassuring his troops. In the wee hours he sang to them…the old songs of the Zulu wars, the old Welsh mining songs. He gave them heart.
“Early in the morning, the enemy sent a battalion back to smash through the weakened American line, thinking the remnants of Charlie Company were still clinging to their positions. Instead they ran into Bravo Company 2/7 Cav. Three times they tried, and three times they failed. They left behind the bod- ies of several hundred of their best. Bravo Company suffered six men lightly wounded.
“Rick Rescorla earned a Silver Star for that day’s work. He soldiered on for a full one-year tour, then came home to America. He took the oath of citizenship, and on that day America gained one of the finest. Rick went to law school, he taught at university for a few years, stayed on in the army reserve and rose to
the rank of colonel. “Some years later, he signed on as chief of security for Morgan Stanley brokers. Three thousand employees on 22 stories of World Trade Tower Two. “On September 11, when that first
plane hit the first of the Twin Tow- ers, the port authority squawkboxes in Tower Two urged everyone to remain at their desks, that they were safe…no need to panic. Rick took one look out the window at that terrible sight across the way and answered: Bullshit! He grabbed his bullhorn and made his way, floor by floor, ordering Morgan Stanley’s people to evacuate immediately…calming them by singing…“God Bless America”… some of the old Zulu war songs…some of the welsh mining songs.
“Rick Rescorla got all but five
employees out of that building safely. He went back up to make sure it was clear and that was when it fell down. We lost a good friend that day. America lost a true son that day. But three thousand other Americans were saved.
“Think about the power of one man to make a difference by his life, with his life. Oh, yes. One more thing. Three years before 9/11, Rick Rescorla was diagnosed with terminal cancer. The docs told him he had perhaps only six months to live. Rick beat that death sentence so that he would be around when he was needed. With a little help from God.”
Photo: Michael Mustacchi
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