President Trump to Posthumously Award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 9/11 Hero Welles Crowther, the Man in the Red Bandana

President Trump is putting one of America’s most unforgettable 9/11 heroes back in the national spotlight.

President Trump announced that Welles Remy Crowther, the 24-year-old former Boston College lacrosse player who gave his life saving strangers inside the burning South Tower on September 11, 2001, will posthumously receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States.

Crowther is known to history as the Man in the Red Bandana.

BREAKING: President Trump announces that 9/11 hero Welles Crowther will posthumously receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Known as “The Man in the Red Bandana,” Crowther repeatedly ran back into the South Tower on 9/11 to help others escape, saving as many as 18 lives… pic.twitter.com/4xDqNQqHsb

— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 22, 2026

On that terrible morning, Crowther was working as an equities trader on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center’s South Tower when United Airlines Flight 175 struck the building.

Rather than flee, the young man tied a red bandana over his nose and mouth and went back into the smoke and fire again and again, guiding survivors to safety through a stairwell.

Witnesses who escaped would later describe a mysterious young man in a red bandana who carried a woman on his back, directed others to clear stairwells, and kept returning to the upper floors to find more people.

Reports indicate Crowther saved as many as 18 lives before the South Tower collapsed.

His remains were found the following March in a lobby alongside New York City firefighters and emergency personnel. He was 24 years old.

As Fox News reported:

President Trump announced the posthumous honor during a Rockland County stop with Rep. Mike Lawler, who had urged him to recognize Crowther before the 25th anniversary of September 11.

Crowther was a 24-year-old equities trader and volunteer firefighter who became a symbol of American courage after survivors described being guided through smoke and wreckage by a man wearing a red bandana over his face.

At the event, President Trump said Crowther would receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and he brought Crowther’s mother, Alison, before the crowd.

Alison Crowther described the award as a huge honor and said her son’s light still shines brightly nearly 25 years later.

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The account also noted that Welles made repeated trips toward danger, helping lead victims to safety from the South Tower before the building collapsed.

That is the reason this announcement hit differently than an ordinary campaign-stage moment, especially with Crowther’s family present as the country moves toward the 25th anniversary of the attacks.

The honor ties the official memory of the nation to a man who never sought fame, only a way to get more people out alive.

That detail is part of what makes the story so extraordinary. Crowther’s parents, Jefferson and Alison Crowther, did not know the full scope of their son’s heroism until survivors began telling their accounts publicly.

His father, Jefferson Crowther, had given Welles the red bandana as a boy. It became his trademark.

He carried it everywhere.

Boston College keeps Crowther’s story alive through its tribute page:

Crowther was a Boston College graduate from the class of 1999, a former lacrosse player, and a young man whose life had already been shaped by service before he ever walked into the World Trade Center.

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He was a rookie equities trader and volunteer firefighter from Upper Nyack, New York, who became known as the Man in the Red Bandanna because of the handkerchief he used as a protective mask on September 11.

Boston College says Crowther helped save as many as 18 lives from the South Tower before it collapsed, and the school continues to honor his legacy through red bandanna traditions and service programs.

That is the heart of the story: a young man with every reason to run down and out instead used his training, courage, and faithfulness to lead others toward life.

The school’s remembrance is not just biographical. It treats Crowther’s life as a call to service, leadership, and moral courage for students who were not yet born when the towers fell.

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He died doing exactly what he was born to do.

NTD also reported on the New York announcement:

President Trump revealed the honor on May 22 while speaking in front of Crowther’s mother and sisters at Rockland Community College in Suffern, New York.

The event put Crowther’s family at the center of the moment, making the announcement feel less like a political line item and more like a public act of remembrance.

Crowther is remembered for wearing the red bandana while saving victims from the South Tower after the September 11 attacks.

The award is the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, and it comes as the country approaches the 25th anniversary year of the attacks.

For many Americans who still remember exactly where they were that morning, honoring Crowther is also a reminder of the ordinary citizens who became extraordinary in the middle of horror.

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That family presence matters. The Medal of Freedom announcement was not only about history; it was about telling a mother that her son’s sacrifice still belongs to the whole country.

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is awarded at the discretion of the President of the United States to individuals who have made “an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.”

It is difficult to imagine a more fitting recipient.

Crowther’s red bandana now hangs in a glass case at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in Lower Manhattan. Boston College retired the number 19 in his honor.

Nearly 25 years after the towers fell, the name Welles Remy Crowther still means something in America.

It means courage when there is no reason to expect it. It means running toward the fire instead of away from it.

President Trump is making sure the country remembers.