Leonard W. Hatton Jr.

Career After six years of active duty, including a stint as a military police officer, Hatton joined the FBI in New Orleans in 1985, and worked briefly in a small Louisiana office. In 1991, he was assigned to New York City as a member of an investigative team working on a bank robbery case. Leonard Hatton's main job was an FBI specialist in explosives and evidence recovery, where he worked until his death. In addition to cracking a number of high-profile bank robbery and kidnapping cases, he investigated international terrorist attacks such as the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the 1998 United States embassy bombings, and the 2000 USS Cole bombing. Three months before the September 11 attacks, he had testified in the trial of a follower of the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda.

September 11 attacks

On the morning of September 11, 2001, Hatton was on his way to work when he saw the North Tower of the World Trade Center on fire after being struck by American Airlines Flight 11 at 8:46 a.m. One civilian survivor told investigators that Hatton guided him to safety and then went back into the South Tower. Asking where Hatton was going, his last response was "back into the building". Hatton continued to stay in the South Tower to help evacuate the civilians in the building when it collapsed at 9:59 a.m., killing him, along with many others inside the South Tower instantly.

Legacy At the National September 11 Memorial, Hatton is memorialized at the South Pool, on Panel S-26. In 2002, the Leonard W. Hatton Memorial Golf Classic was established in Colts Neck Township, New Jersey, in dedication to his memory and has held an annual golf memorial since. All proceeds are donated to the Burchette, Conners, Ellington, Hereford, Lynch Memorial College Scholarship Fund. The Fund, a 501(c)(3) organization, provides college scholarships to the children of deceased FBI Special Agents. As of September 8, 2020, the Hatton Memorial Golf Classic has raised more than $3,564,400 for the Fund.