{"id":343871,"date":"2026-09-11T11:44:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T11:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/343871\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T11:44:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T11:44:14","slug":"the-man-in-the-red-bandana-remembering-welles-crowther-25-years-after-9-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/343871\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The man in the red bandana’: Remembering Welles Crowther 25 years after 9\/11"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The \"The The Man in the Red Bandana: Remembering a 9\/11 hero<\/a> <\/p>\n

On September 11, 2001, Welles Crowther was working on the 104th floor of the South Tower. Instead of escaping to safety, he ran back up the smoky stairwells to rescue strangers, even carrying an injured woman on his back. FOX 5 NY’s Sharon Crowley sits down with Welles’ mother, Alison Crowther, to reflect on his incredible legacy 25 years later.\u00a0<\/p>\n

NEW YORK CITY – Twenty-five years later, Welles Crowther is still being remembered for saving more than a dozen people during the terror attacks at the World Trade Center on September 11.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

The backstory:<\/p>\n

On September 11, 2001, 24-year-old Welles Crowther worked in finance on the 104th floor of the south tower of the World Trade Center. Instead of escaping danger during the terror attacks on 9\/11, Welles began climbing back up the stairwells to help rescue people on higher floors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“He did what he was trained to do.”<\/p>\n

\u2014 Trevor Gottleib <\/p>\n

He’s credited with saving more than a dozen people, including carrying one woman to safety on his back. Welles’ mother, Alison Crowther, might never have known about her son\u2019s heroism had it not been for the red bandana he wore around his face.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Welles got his first bandana from his dad when he was a kid with the advice to always carry one. She learned of her son\u2019s bravery after she read newspaper accounts from survivors who talked about being helped by a man who had his face covered with a red bandana.<\/p>\n

What they’re saying:<\/p>\n

Welles trained to be a volunteer firefighter when he was a teenager, following in his father’s footsteps.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

His family and firefighters say what he learned helped him save lives on 9\/11.<\/p>\n

Big picture view:<\/p>\n

In the 25 years since 9\/11, Welles’ story of courage has been written about in books and portrayed in a documentary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0“He was just fearless, really fearless. I never saw him afraid of anything.”<\/p>\n

\u2014 Alison Crowther <\/p>\n

Just recently, President Trump awarded Welles the presidential medal of freedom. Welles’ father died a few years ago, but his sisters and mother are still working to cement Welles’ legacy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I would say, Welles, I love you so much, and I will do anything always to step up to carry on your legacy, to carry on your example, because I see how it inspires other people.”<\/p>\n

\u2014 Alison Crowther <\/p>\n

There\u2019s a foundation in his name, so future generations will always remember the bravery and selflessness of the man in the red bandana.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

The Source: This article is based on reporting from FOX 5 NY’s Sharon Crowley, who spoke with Alison Crowther, the mother of Welles Crowther.<\/p>\n

Manhattan<\/a>September 11<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Man in the Red Bandana: Remembering a 9\/11 hero On September 11, 2001, Welles Crowther was working…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[75,9,24,12,56,63,11803,134,136,135,618],"class_list":["post-343871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-manhattan","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-september-11","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}