President Donald Trump posthumously awarded Welles Crowther the Presidential Medal of Freedom, honoring the volunteer firefighter who saved lives inside the South Tower.
Trump presented the medal Tuesday to Crowther’s mother, Alison Crowther, at the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, D.C. The ceremony came during Tunnel to Towers’ “Steel Across America” event.
The award honors a 24-year-old equities trader who became known as the “man in the red bandana.” Fox News reported that Crowther’s actions saved up to 18 people on Sept. 11, 2001.
Crowther was also a trained volunteer firefighter with Empire Hook and Ladder Company Number One in New York. On 9/11, Trump said, Crowther helped trapped people escape the World Trade Center’s South Tower before dying in its lobby.
The red bandana came from his father, Jefferson Crowther, who was also a firefighter. Trump said Welles had carried it since childhood and once declared that he would use it to “change the world.”
Trump described Crowther’s repeated trips between the damaged floors. He said Crowther found a narrow opening in the only stairwell that remained usable and went searching for people who needed help.
In remarks at the ceremony, Trump recounted what Crowther did after hearing cries from the 78th floor:
“When he heard cries for help on the 78th floor, he began extinguishing the fires, blocking the exit, directing survivors who could walk, of which there weren't that many. He helped them out physically. They literally pulled him out toward the only working stairwell and carried those who couldn't walk. And he just did things that people said were not even imaginable because they knew they were dead. They said, 'we're goners.' One guy was screaming, 'we're goners! We're goners!' He didn't know those he helped and, nor who would have known, but he willingly made all of these trips up and down, up and down, up and down, over and over again, saving life after life,”
Trump said Crowther had traveled down from the 104th floor. Rather than continue toward safety, he responded to people trapped with broken bones, burns and lungs filled with smoke.
He did not know the people he helped. He went back anyway. That choice turned a simple piece of red cloth into a lasting symbol of duty.
Alison Crowther said her son joined Empire Hook and Ladder Company Number One at age 16. Its members held other jobs and cared for their own families, but they remained fully trained firefighters ready to respond.
She credited that service with preparing Welles for the choices he made inside the South Tower:
“Welles, however, would not have been able to do what he did as effectively on 9/11 if it had not been for the training and experience he gained as a member of Empire Hook and Ladder Company Number One of Upper Nyack. Empire is a volunteer company and the members are fully trained firefighters. They have other jobs and responsibilities, businesses to run and their own families. But when the alarm goes off at any time, day or night, they respond to the call to save life and property. This is a calling. And Welles, following in the footsteps of his father, Jefferson, joined Empire at the age of 16. He was no longer an equities trader on 9/11, he was a firefighter,” she said.
Her words put the focus where it belongs. Crowther’s courage did not appear from nowhere. Years of volunteer service had taught him how to act when others depended on him.
That lesson reaches beyond one family or one fire company. Communities remain strong when citizens accept duties that bring little attention but demand real sacrifice.
Tunnel to Towers held the medal ceremony as part of its “Steel Across America” event. The organization transported a 16,900-pound steel beam from the South Tower across the country ahead of the attacks’ 25th anniversary.
The beam connected the Washington ceremony to the place where Crowther spent his final hours helping strangers. Trump called the Presidential Medal of Freedom the nation’s highest civilian honor.
Trump said the award also recognized the many acts of courage that remain unknown:
“Today, in honor of his incredible bravery and all of the other countless unknown acts of heroism that day, it is my privilege to award the very special, the highest honor that we give, the highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. We want to award that to Welles and the Welles family. Welles is up there looking down at his mom and his sister, his family,”
Alison Crowther said her son’s example still inspires others after 25 years. She described his legacy through “courage, compassion and love for humanity.”
The Medal of Freedom cannot repay Welles Crowther’s sacrifice. It can ensure the country remembers the standard he set: see the danger, accept the duty and help your fellow Americans.
