On This Day…November 16th.

U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Rick Rescorla, Platoon Leader of 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division – Ia Drang Valley, South Vietnam, November 16, 1965

Born in England, Rick Rescorla first served in the British Army, then joined the U.S. Army. In 2001 he was head of security for banking firm Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, and is credited with saving 2,700 people by making sure they left the World Trade Center’s South Tower before it collapsed in the 9/11 attacks. He was killed when he re-entered the tower in an attempt to rescue more people.

Th photo above is B-17F ‘Heavenly Daze’ of the 95th Bomber Group flying in formation, at altitude, over Norway on the 16th November 1943. The mission was to bomb a hard water plant in Rijukan. Originally assigned to the 95th on the 16th June 1943, Heavenly Daze became a veteran bomber of the group before being lost a almost a year to the day later in November 1944 with nine of the crew being made prisoners of war.

Photo of F104 Starfighter taken Nov 16th, 1960 at Rogers Dry Lake. Mojave Desert.

Bow view of the USS North Carolina, Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, 16 Nov 1942.

The French battleship Jean Bart at Casablanca, French Morocco on 16 Nov 1942, with damage from 16-inch shells and 1,000-pound bombs inflicted by US Navy forces during the Operation Torch landings (see previous posts).