President Donald Trump is marking the 25th anniversary of the devastating 9/11 attacks by giving one of the first responders who died in the attacks the highest U.S. civilian honor.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the greatest honor that any American who is not in the military can receive. Trump on Tuesday gave it posthumously to volunteer firefighter Welles Crowther, sometimes called the "man in the red bandana." Crowther saved up to 18 people on that horrible day in 2001 before he died.
.@POTUS tells the story of the “Man in the Red Bandana,” a 24-year-old rookie equities trader in the South Tower who heroically gave his own life to save 18 others on September 11, 2001. pic.twitter.com/EiYCfUlOsJ
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 8, 2026
Fox News covered the ceremony. “Today we also remember another hero of 9/11,” Trump said. “After the plane hit the south tower, a group of people on the 78th floor were trapped with broken bones, charred skin and eyes and lungs filled with black smoke. Death was all about them. It was certain they were sure they were going to die. Then suddenly a rescuer appeared. They call him the man in the red bandana. Have you heard that term? The man in the red bandana has become more famous than me,” the president said, adding a joke about not liking being eclipsed.
Trump continued, “[Crowther] had found the only stairwell that barely survived. The stairwells were all knocked down. You couldn't get by. Impassable. He found an opening in one of the stairwells, and the impact was so great there was no other way down but this one little opening, this one little hole. And [he] traveled down from the 104th floor to look for those trapped and dying.”
“I found the stairs. Follow me, and help the ones that can be helped.”
— The History Feed (@HistoryFeed_7) September 8, 2026
Those were the words 24 year old Welles Crowther spoke to survivors trapped on the 78th floor of the South Tower on September 11, 2001.
With a red bandana covering his face, he led people down the stairs,… pic.twitter.com/G4jV5Gv0fn
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Until Crowther arrived, some of the people trapped in the building were certain they were going to die. “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,’” Trump explained. Crowther “willingly made all of these trips up and down, up and down, up and down, over and over again, saving life after life.”
Trump noted that Crowther’s father was also a fireman and that he had given his son the bandana when the latter was still a boy. Welles Crowther said he kept it because “with this red bandana, I'm going to change the world.”
Then on Sept. 11, 2001, Welles Crowther did change the world when he “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 exclaimed. “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 Welles’ family. Welles is up there looking down at his mom and his sister, his family.”
Trump spoke at a Tunnel to Towers event, part of the initiative to take a huge steel beam from the South Tower across America. Mother Alison Crowther also spoke, declaring, “That Welles' light still shines brilliantly today, even after 25 years, is testament to his legacy of courage, compassion and love for humanity that continues to inspire and uplift others.”
President Trump just presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Welles Crowther’s mother, Alison, honoring her son, the “Man in the Red Bandana.”
— Gina Milan (@ginamilan_) September 8, 2026
Welles was just 24 years old, an equities trader and volunteer firefighter. On 9/11, he wrapped his red bandana around his face,… pic.twitter.com/ygSxwFVuCI
Victims’ families and a police organization have already registered their protests about pro-Islamic jihad politicians New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) planning to attend the 25th anniversary ceremonies, so it is particularly important that Trump should have attended a separate ceremony to honor one of the heroes whom radical leftist New York voters have forgotten.
Since the 9/11 attacks, huge numbers of Muslim migrants have moved into New York City and practically transformed it into an Islamist cesspool. The 9/11 victims deserved better, and in the future, memorials to them should include policies to root out the ideology responsible for the attacks. Crowther died saving the victims of Islamic terrorism. Americans should be focused on making sure no other firefighter has to die for the same reason.
Editor's Note: President Trump is fighting to renew America in this 250th birthday year.
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