The 9/11 hero who ran towards death: The extraordinary story of 'Red Bandana Man' who has been honoured by Trump
Welles Crowther sparked worldwide admiration and a series of documentaries after his bravery helped save the lives of 18 people.
President Donald Trump has posthumously awarded America's highest civilian honour to a New York equities trader who helped save more than a dozen people trapped insist the doomed World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
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Welles Crowther, who has been hailed as the 'man in the red bandana', sparked worldwide admiration and a series of documentaries after his bravery helped save the lives of 18 people.
Crowther’s mother Allison and sister Paige accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom during a ceremony to pay tribute to first responders who died in the terror attacks 25 years ago.
Read More: Donald Trump claims NYC firefighters 'plucked him from the rubble of the World Trade Center on 9/11'
Paying tribute Mr Trump said: “Welles saved many, many people before losing his own life in the South Tower lobby when the building came down,.
He added that the award was “in honour of his incredible bravery and all of the other countless unknown acts of heroism that day.”
Mr Trump quipped: "After the plane hit the south tower, a group of people on the 78th floor were trapped with broken bones, charred skin and eyes and lungs filled with black smoke. Death was all about them. It was certain they were sure they were going to die. Then suddenly a rescuer appeared. They call him the man in the red bandana. Have you heard that term? The man in the red bandana has become more famous than me. I don't like it. Very unhappy. But he's become much more famous than me."
For months after the terror attacks, mystery surrounded the identity of 'Red Bandana Man' - the man in the mask who guided strangers to safety inside the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
According to survivors, the mysterious man managed to get to the 78th-floor sky lobby where he found a group of people waiting for an elevator down.
Survivors say he guided several people to a stairway that had not been blocked in the impact and escorted them 17 floors to clearer air.
Ling Young, who was badly burned, remembered seeing him with a woman on his back. He dropped off the woman he was carrying and then went back to the 78th floor, wearing his distinctive red bandana to breathe through the thick smoke.
His body was found in March 2002 near those of several firefighters. It is believed that he was helping them at a command post in the lobby as a civilian usher.
His identity remained a secret until Allison read a newspaper article describing a mysterious man with a red bandana directing survivors to a set of the only set of stairs that they could take to safety.
At the age of 16, Welles followed in his father’s footsteps to join the Empire Hook & Ladder Company as a junior firefighter.
His iconic red bandana had been with him since childhood after it was given to him by his father, Jefferson. It became a fixture of his life, and friends remember him saying "With this red bandana, I’m going to change the world."
Two years before he died in the South Tower, he graduated with a degree in economics from Boston College, where he had been a keen lacrosse player.
He hoped to join the New York Fire Department while building a career in finance, working for Sandler O’Neill & Partners, whose offices were on the 104th floor.
United Airlines Flight 175 struck between floors 77 and 85 of his building at 9.03am on September 11, 2001.
Nine minutes later, he called his mum and left a message that said: ‘Mom, this is Welles. I wanted you to know that I’m okay.’ Allison never heard his voice again.
After his death, his family found an application form for the FDNY in his apartment.
In 2006, Crowther was posthumously named an honorary New York City firefighter. His parents later established a charitable trust in his name, while Boston College continues to honour him through its annual Red Bandana Run and the nationally recognised Red Bandana Game.
Welles’s bandana is now a monument at the National September 11 Memorial in New York.
During his dedication of the museum, then-President Barack Obama said: "They didn’t know his name. They didn’t know where he came from. But they knew their lives had been saved by the man in the red bandana.
"He tended to the wounded. He led those survivors down the stairs to safety, and carried a woman on his shoulders down 17 flights. Then he went back. Back up all those flights. Then back down again, bringing more wounded to safety. Until that moment when the tower fell."