Welles Crowther: The Man in the Red Bandana

Welles Remy Crowther was born in New York City on May 17, 1977 and grew up in Nyack, north of the city. At 16 he joined the volunteer fire company in Nyack where his father also served.

He played lacrosse at Boston College and graduated in 1999 with a degree in economics, then joined Sandler O’Neill as an equities trader in the South Tower.

When he was six, his father gave him a red bandana. He kept one with him from then on, and it became part of who he was to his family and friends.

Flight 175 struck the South Tower at 9:03 a.m. The impact zone included the 78th-floor sky lobby, where people had gathered to change elevators on their way down. Many were badly hurt, and the smoke made it hard to see.

Survivors, among them Judy Wein and Ling Young, remembered a man with a red bandana over his face who told them there was a stairway they could use and helped lead people to it. He went back to the sky lobby more than once to find others.

He was last seen heading back up the tower with FDNY firefighters. Accounts credit him with helping as many as 18 people reach safety.

For months, his family did not know what had happened to him. In March 2002, his remains were found in the lobby of the South Tower, alongside firefighters and other emergency workers.

In May 2002, his mother, Alison Crowther, read survivors’ accounts in The New York Times of a young man in a red bandana who had saved them. She recognised her son, and survivors who were shown his photograph confirmed it was him.

The bandana is a bright red paisley cloth, about 20 by 18 inches. It was given to the 9/11 Museum by Alison and Jefferson Crowther and family, and it is also the emblem of the charitable trust the family created in his name.

Objects on display in the Museum change from time to time, so the bandana may not always be on view. His story is part of the Museum’s account of what happened inside the South Tower. Read more about the artifacts to look for in the 9/11 Museum.

In 2006, the FDNY made Welles Crowther an honorary firefighter.

On May 15, 2014, President Barack Obama told his story at the dedication of the 9/11 Memorial Museum, with his mother, Alison, and Ling Young, one of the people he helped, at the ceremony.

His story is told in the book The Red Bandanna by Tom Rinaldi (2016) and in the documentary Man in Red Bandana (2017).

The Welles Remy Crowther Red Bandana Run, a 5K race, takes place every October at Boston College, and the Welles Remy Crowther Charitable Trust supports young people in his memory.