On September 11, 2001, 24-year-old Welles Remy Crowther was working on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center’s South Tower when Flight 175 hit the building.
He was trapped 27 floors above the impact zone a place almost nobody survived.
But instead of only trying to save himself, Welles stayed behind to help others escape.
Before heading into the smoke, he left his mom a voicemail:
“Mom, this is Welles. I want you to know I’m OK.”
Welles was also a volunteer firefighter back home in New York, and he always carried a red bandana his father gave him as a kid.
Survivors later remembered seeing a man with a red bandana covering his face, leading people to safety, carrying injured victims down stairs, and going back up again and again to help more people.
He reportedly saved at least 18 lives before the South Tower collapsed.
For months, nobody knew who “the man in the red bandana” was.
Then in 2002, his mother read survivor stories in a newspaper and realized they were talking about her son.
Welles Remy Crowther will always be remembered as a real hero. ❤️