The Man In The Red Bandana. One of the many stories of courage and heroism on 9/11. It took several years for the pieces to be put together based upon the interviews with survivors, and for his family to realize everything that Welles Crowther did on that fateful horrific day.

Welles Crowther, the Boston College graduate remembered as “The Man in the Red Bandana,” was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Donald Trump on Tuesday for his heroism during the Sept. 11 attacks.

Nearly a quarter century after a day “etched forever into the memories of Americans,” Mr. Trump honored the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on Tuesday by vowing to “never forget.”

The event at the Ellipse was spearheaded by the Tunnel to Towers Foundation and showcased a massive, 21-foot, nearly 17,000-pound steel beam recovered from the South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York, which had traveled for months across the country as part of the Steel Across America tour.

Mr. Trump noted that the Sept. 11 attacks were one of few moments in history that “divide time into really what came before” and after.

During his remarks, Mr. Trump paid particular tribute to two men who died in the attacks: Jeffrey Palazzo, a New York City firefighter, and Welles Crowther, a young equities trader who became known as the “man in the red bandana” after rescuing several people in the attacks.

Welles was 24 years old. A lacrosse player who graduated from Boston College, was a junior firefighter, and worked equities trader with Sandler O’Neill and Partners on the 104th floor of the South Tower.

And then the plane hit the tower.

From all accounts, Welles identified a stairwell that people could use to get to safety given the elevators either weren’t working, or were moving too slow for the situation. He helped move over a dozen people down 17 flights, while carrying one lady on his back. Once they got to safety, he went back UP the stairs in that burning building.

Welle’s body wasn’t found until 2002. A full year later. It wasn’t until after a documentary aired when his family found out what Welles did that day and the lives he had saved. The survivors only knew about his red bandana. A piece of cloth that was integral to Welles life.

And, on that day, that bandana and Welles himself was a beacon of hope and safety while a building burned around them.

Today, at the White House, President Trump honored Welles Crowther, with Welles’s mother and sister standing by.

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On Friday, the 25th Anniversary of 9/11. Rutgers and Boston College will play against each other.

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Boston College has, since 2014, held a Red Bandana game every season in honor of Welles. This year is especially poignant given it is the 25th Anniversary.

❕❕WHITE OUT❕❕ pic.twitter.com/5JQesuRaUv

— Boston College Football (@BCFootball) September 7, 2026

Every helmet and jersey will have the red paisley pattern of the bandana that Welles carried since he was a child. The players names won’t be on the uniform. Instead each uniform will simply say “For Welles.”

At least 18 people survived that day because of Welles Remy Crowther. A young man who, with his red bandana, carried and moved people down all those flights of stairs. And then went back UP into the smoke and fire to try and save more.

Welles is one of the many heroes of 9/11.

“That rescuer was a 24-year-old equities trader and volunteer firefighter from Rockland County named Welles Crowther. And Welles’ father, also a firefighter, great firefighter, had given him that bandana as a very special tribute when he was a boy. He probably knew something about his son. When asked why he always kept it, Welles replied ‘with this red bandana, I’m going to change the world. I’m going to change the world with this bandana.’ Little did he know, on September 11th Welles saved many, many people before losing his own life in the South Tower lobby. When the building came down, he was in the lobby and that building came down, thousands of tons of steel,” Trump said.

Welles did indeed change the world on that day. As his father said, Welles may not have gone on to be a firefighter or a CIA agent or even a politician.

But what he did that day in saving nearly two dozen lives is an immeasurable legacy.

Feature Photo Credit: A red bandana next to Welles name at the 9/11 Memorial via Springfield Armory on X, cropped and modified