25 years ago, on the morning of September 11, United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower at 9:03 a.m. between floors 77 and 85. Nine minutes later, at 9:12 a.m., a young equities trader and volunteer firefighter named Welles Crowther called his mother Alison from his office and left a voicemail: “Mom, this is Welles. I wanted you to know that I’m okay.” Those would be the last words his family heard from him. Welles made his way down to the 78th-floor sky lobby, the transfer point for express elevators. The impact had turned it into a scene of fire, smoke, debris, and badly injured people. Many of those waiting for elevators had been burned or cut. Only 18 people from at or above the impact zone in the South Tower would survive. A tall young man appeared wearing a red bandana over his nose and mouth. He spoke in a calm, commanding voice: he had found the one usable stairwell. “Everyone who can stand, stand now. If you can help others, do so. Follow me.” He carried a badly injured woman on his back and led a group down 17 floors to the 61st floor, where the air was clearer. He left them there to continue on their own, then turned around and climbed back up. He returned to the 78th floor, organized more people, used fire extinguishers, and led at least one more group down. Survivors later identified him from photographs as the man who had saved them. He is credited with helping as many as 18 people reach safety. Welles was last seen heading back upward with FDNY firefighters in the South Tower lobby who were preparing to go back up with tools to free people still trapped. The South Tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m. His body was recovered in March 2002 in the lobby wreckage, among firefighters and emergency personnel. He had been talking about leaving finance to join the FDNY and a mostly completed application was later found in his home. His red bandana, that started as a father’s small gift to a boy, became the thing that identified a man who chose to go up when others were going down.

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