Special Agent Leonard William Hatton, Jr.
FBI Joint Bank Robbery Task Force
(End of Watch - September 11, 2001)
Leonard W. Hatton, Jr. was a Jersey guy. Born and raised in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey, his father was a Ridgefield Park police officer and a member of the Ridgefield Park High School Class of 1975. After graduating from Jersey City State College (now known as New Jersey City University) with his degree in Criminal Justice, he joined the United States Marine Corps where he served the people of the United States for six years.
In 1985, he joined the FBI, where he specialized in explosives and evidence recovery. When he joined the FBI he worked in New Orleans but in 1991 he came home (or more precisely, across the Hudson River from home) to New York City as part of a team investigating a bank robbery case. He would spend the final ten years of his career, which sadly proved to also be the final ten years of his life, working in New York City. Given his area of specialty, he spent a considerable amount of time in his FBI career investigating terrorist attacks, including the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the 1998 bombings of United States Embassys, and the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole.
He did not work at the World Trade Center and he was not assigned to respond there on September 11, 2001. He was on his way to work in downtown Manhattan when he saw smoke billowing out of the North Tower, which changed his destination. According to eyewitnesses, he mounted a position on the roof of the Marriott Hotel at 3 World Trade Center and radioed to his squad that people were jumping from the North Tower. At 9:03 am he radioed to report that a second jet had flown into the South Tower. When holding his position atop the Marriott became untenable, he moved from it and, consistent with his training as a volunteer firefighter, started helping FDNY firefighters evacuate people trapped in the South Tower. One survivor told investigators that Mr. Hatton guided him out of the South Tower to safety before heading in to help others. He was still inside the South Tower when it collapsed at 9:59 am.
His love of country and his love of public service, as fervent as they were, paled in comparison to his love for his wife, JoAnne (his high school sweetheart) and the couple's three daughters (Tara, Jessica, and Courtney) and son (Lenny).
In the twenty-one years since his death, Leonard Hatton's legacy has lived on in the Leonard W. Hatton Memorial Golf Classic, the 21st Annual Edition of which was held on June 3, 2022 (the fifth anniversary of my mother's death) at Pebble Creek Golf Club in Colts Neck, New Jersey. 100% of the Tournament's proceeds since its inception in 2002 have gone to the Burchette, Conners, Ellington, Hereford, Lynch Memorial College Scholarship Fund, which is a 501 (c) (3) organization that provides college scholarhips to the children of deceased FBI agents. Through 2021, the Classic's contribution to the fund was $564,000.
-AK
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