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Narrated by
Ed Burns
Narrator: What would you do in the last hour of your life?
Where would you be?
Who would remember it?
What would it look like? (0:22)
Written by
Tom Rinaldi
Maybe it would look like this.
A symbol of absolutely the most pure form of compassion and love. No greater love hath one than go lay down his life for his fellow man. It’s all right here in this red Bandana, for me. (0:55)
Welles Crowther the first began carrying the red bandana when he was 6 years old, growing up in Nyack, New York a suburb north of Manhattan.
It soon became a signature and a link between father and son. (1:11)
Alison Crowther: Welles was a little boy. And my husband took a little white handkerchief and, and folded it up and put it in his pocket. And he said, now Welles is this white handkerchief – that’s for show. Here’s a bandana. That’s for blow, to blow your nose. (1:29)
Dad: So from the time he was a very little boy, that’s what he carried and mostly red bandanas.
He loved having that red bandana. And he always had it with him. He always had it with him. (1:44)
Narrator: By the time Wells was in high school, he spent most of his time in two places, on the field or at the firehouse.
Dad: As soon as he turns 16, he signed up as a junior firefighter. He had a great affinity for it. You know, he loved helping people.
Paul Wanamaker (Empire Hook & Ladder): I just remember a kid that was a smart kid. You knew he was concentrating on what he had to do. And you could tell he kind of had the right stuff, you know?
Narrator: In sports, Welles was a leader, captain on the ice, the top scorer on the field, always wearing number 19.
Mom: He was a real team player. It was his quote in his high school yearbook. There is no I in team.
(2:40)
Narrator: He continued to play at Boston College, a division I lacrosse player, the bandana always there beneath his helmet.
James Tremble Welles’ Teammate: He wasn’t as tall and wasn’t as large as a lot of players, certainly when he’s going against a lot of large defensemen at a Division I level, so you’re talking about someone who kind of went in there and really had to scrap and fight for everything. (3:04)
Tyler Jewell Welles’ Teammate: You know Welles was just there for everybody and anybody. Welles was the first guy to catch you on the back, yeah, if you didn’t have a good game and always a smile. (3:20)
Narrator: After the graduating in 1999, Wells moved to New York City. He took a job as an equities trader for the firm Sandler O’Neill. His office was on the 104th floor in the South Tower of the World Trade Center. (3:36)
Mom: He always wanted to be in business. And he wanted to be down on Wall Street. So he was living his dream. But also, there was a piece missing.
Dad: Welles called me one day and said, you know, Dad I think I want to change my excuse me he said I think I want to change my career. I said, excuse me? He said, I think I want to be a New York City firefighter. He also said, Dad, if I sit in front of this computer for the rest of my life, I’ll go crazy. (3:59)
Narrator: At 8:46 a.m. on September 11th, American Airlines flight 11 flew into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Wells, already at his desk in the South Tower, called and left a message for his mother”
“Mom… This is Wells. I want you to know that I’m okay.”
In the 78th floor sky lobby of the South Tower, pproximately 200 people were waiting to evacuate by the elevators.
Ling Young: We were just chatting. And the next thing you know, it just exploded.
Narrator: At 9:02, United flight 175 hit the building,
Its wings cutting a diagonal pather between the 78th and 84th floors.
Ling Young: The explosion is incredible. I went from one end to the other. I just flew. And when I got up, I realized that I can’t see because my glasses were filled with blood. And I wiped it off. When I wiped it, I looked around. I said “Oh my God.” There’s a lot of people completely dead.”
Narrator: Severely burned and stranded amongst the dying, Young, and others, still alive, saw no way out.
Ling Young: We looked around the floor. I said, well, we really can’t move because we don’t know what happened. We’re afraid that we’re going to take a step. The whole thing is going to sink in. (5:44)
Then, all of a sudden, we see a young man come out of nowhere. You heard this man’s voice say, I found the stairs. Follow me. Only help the one that you can help. It’s the way he said it. And we just got up. We follow.
Narrator: The man led Young and others from the sky lobby to stairway A, the only functional stairway left on the 78th floor.
He led them down to the 61st floor, where they meant firefighters who escorted them to working elevators on the 40th floor.
After leaving the group down, the man turned and headed back up the stairs..
Ling Young: He said I’m going back up because he knows there’s a lot of people up there I’m 78th floor that needed help. I mean, he could have continued going down with us but he didn’t. He decided to go back up.
Narrator: The man climbed 17 floors, returning again to the burning Sky Lobby. There he found other survivors, including Judy Wein.
She does not speak publicly about what happened.
Her husband Jerry saw her at the hospital later in the afternoon of September 11th.
Gerry Sussman Judy Wein’s Hsuband: She just come out of surgery. At that point she could hardly speak, but she wanted to tell me what happened. Judy said she saw a young man appear out of nowhere. She watched him as he went around helping people, putting out fires, and administering aid to the injured.
And he said, everyone who can stand, stand now. If you can help others do so. Those were his exact words as she told it to me that afternoon. (7:35)
Narrator: After being let’s safely to the stairway, Wein so the man go back to the burning Sky Lobby. At 9:59 a.m., the South Tower collapsed.
Dad: I saw it. I was standing right here in this room, watching. And I saw the tower of collapse. I thought to myself, if Wells is lost. I literally dropped down on my knees and I said and I prayed I said. “Dear God take me now. Leave him here. Take me now.”
Mom: When I heard the news that the tower come down I knew in my heart of hearts that Wells was going I can’t explain why other than it was just a mother’s heart knowing, sorry. (8:43)
Narrator: Six months after the attacks, March 19th 2002, Welles’ body was found in what was the lobby of the South Tower, next to uniformed firefighters. Still, the details of his death remained a mystery.
That May, the New York Times published an account for survivors inside the South Tower. One detail struck Wells’s family immediately. (NY Times Article)
Mom: And that was Judy Wein saying this mysterious man wearing a red kerchief was calling out, basically setting up a triage. The minute I saw the reference to the red kercheif, I went Oh My God Welles, I found you. (9:38
Narrator: Alison Crowther began to search for confirmation of what she already believed. She sent this photo of her son to Wein and another survivor mentioned in the article Lin Young.
Lin Young: I looked at if very carefully. I said, yes, that was him there was no question in my mind.
Mom: And so, that was a beautiful thing, for all of us, for that I finally found him. And and for them too that they would know who this man was.
Dad: To know that Wells and in that figurative sense, took off the equity trailer hat and put it on the table, picked up his helmet, firefighter’s helmet, and went to work. For me, that was an incredible, incredible thing to know. (10:44)
Narrator: According to accounts from survivors, Welles helped to save as many as 12 people on September 11th.
Fire Chief: We’re here today to honor a true hero.
2006 Welles Crowther was posthumously named a New York City firefighter.
Fire Chief: The department couldn’t be prouder to have a member like Welles in our family.
That same year, Tyler Jewell, Welles’ teammate at Boston College, wore a red bandana in his honor while competing as a snowboarder in the Winter Olympics.
Tyler Jewell: For me, the red bandana symbolizes everything I want to be and everything that Wells was. You know, strength, honor, courage. That’s it. He’s a true hero. (11:34)
Welles is remembered by the people from the places he touched.
- At Boston College, in the annual Red Bandana Run each fall
- In Nyack, inside Empire hook and ladder his picture is the last image firefighters see before they answer a call.
- In New Jersey, in a photo inside the living room of a woman he saved.
Lin Young: Without him, I wouldn’t be here. He saved my life, and he will always be in my heart and always be with me.
Unfortunately, Allison has to lose him to save me.
Dad: I still weep every day for my son. He was my best friend. I was his best friend. At some point of every day, sometimes it’s in the morning when I am shaving in front of the mirror. And I have a 19 that is tattooed over my heart.
And I’m looking at that 19 and the memories just come flooding back.
But really, I just weep for the loss of his company. He was just such a wonderful friend.
Narrator:
What would you do in the last hour of your life?
Where would you be?
Who would remember it?
What would it look like? (0:22)
Maybe it wouldn’t look anything like loss, but would be the thread of legacy in the color of honor.
hank you for watching ESPN on YouTube for more sports highlights and Analysis be sure to download the ESPN app and for live streaming Sports and premium content subscribe to ESPN plus so it’s pretty big deal run does anybody know anybody doing the Boston College so being played tonight right and then you can see kind of a BC is honoring him and ESPN I’m sure always covers the game Big matchup so that putting it on ESPN2 but I’m sure they will show that red vanilla they have special uniforms for it right and then the news last night they’re putting finishing touches on and does anybody know who they’re playing Rutgers what do you know about Rutgers football they lost to UMass that was big news with the longest losing streak in the country do you know anything about 9/11 in Rutgers so does anybody know where Rutgers is from New Jersey then 37 members of the Rutgers Community pass away so tonight you’re going to have a helmet that has 37 on them and that’s how they’re going to honor so let’s see what God did communication again 2011 all right let’s copy this year tonight all right so they have their images here right are they helmet and then they have never forget so with sports and Society we’ll talk a little more about it but why came through different uniforms this is the honor them but also I mean the big pictures they they do it to make money I can get the city Edition and all that it’s just Trump all right so today we also remember another hero of 9/11 after the plane hit the South Tower a group of people of the 78th floor were trapped with broken bones charge skin and eyes and Lums filled with black smoke that was all about them with certain they were sure they were going to die then suddenly rescue appeared they call him the man in the red bandana have you heard that term the man in the red pen is become more famous than me I don’t like it very unhappy about his become much more famous than me now is the man of the red bandana yet found the only stairwell that barely survived her Wells were all knocked down you couldn’t get by impassable when he heard cries for help with the 78th floor he
Mom: “When I heard the news I knew Welles was gone. I can’t explain why, other than it was a mother’s heart knowing.”
6 months after the attacks, March 19th, 2002. Welles body was found next to uniformed firefighters. Still the details of his death remained a mystery. That May the New York times wrote an article.
Allison began to search for confirmation. sent photos to Judy and another survivor mentioned in the article