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Alison grieves daily; friends and neighbors try to comfort her, and she them. After a while, it’s too much for her, and she takes a short-term job at a Neiman Marcus across the river, because “she wanted to be seen but not watched, to be heard but not known” (145).
The search for bodies at the World Trade Center continues. On March 19, 2002, searchers find Welles’s remains. “The body was recovered in the debris of what had been the lobby of the South Tower” (152), near the bodies of FDNY firefighters in an area designated as a command post. Welles had been helping the firefighters when he died. The family holds a private funeral.
On Memorial Day weekend of 2002, the New York Times publishes a lengthy article “documenting the space of time between the first plane strike and the second tower’s collapse” (156). Alison reads it and discovers, in a description of the 78th floor devastation, a telling incident: “A mysterious man appeared at one point, his mouth and nose covered with a red handkerchief. He was looking for a fire extinguisher” (157).
Alison begins a search for the witnesses mentioned in the article who had noticed the man with the red bandanna. She locates Judy Wein, who worked on the 103rd floor and was rescued from the 78th floor by the man with the red kerchief. Alison sends her a picture of Welles. Judy confirms, “Yes […] that was the man” (161).
Alison also learns about Ling Young, who survives the catastrophe but suffers serious burns that require numerous painful operations. Ling has wondered about the man “who spoke with such authority, who steered her way and guided her down” (163). Alison sends photos of Welles to Ling, who confirms that Welles is the man who saved her.
Judy and Ling visit the Crowthers in June 2002 to share stories of the tragedy and Welles’s work to save them. “The Crowthers were so grateful for the light that had been cast on Welles’s final hours. To be able to look into the faces of these two lives he saved, to know their names, to hear their voices” (71).
Later in June, the story of Welles and those he rescued appears in the Hudson Valley Journal News, identifying Welles “for the first time publicly as the man who saved their lives, and those of an unknown number of others” (172).
In July 2002, Welles’s good friend Rob Lewis gets married, and he and all his groomsmen bring red bandannas to the reception. Welles’s story begins to spread; major news outlets pick it up. Alison and Jeff “created a charitable trust in Welles’s name . . . granting scholarships to Nyack students who embodied Welles’s values and passions, and making gifts and grants to other nonprofits sharing his example” (176).
Welles’s college friend Tyler Jewell competes in the 2006 Winter Olympics wearing a red bandanna around his neck. Welles’s hockey teammate John Scott coaches youth in Raleigh, NC, where he refuses to assign Welles’s old number, 19, to anyone. Many people start red-bandanna sporting events, wear red kerchiefs in tournaments, sport red-bandanna tattoos, or wear Welles’s name on their competition shirts. Other charities begin character-based activities to promote “service and compassion through Welles’s story and the bandanna’s symbol” (178). People name their newborns after Welles.
Childhood acquaintance Chris Reynolds becomes an FDNY firefighter and arrives at the ruined Twin Towers hoping to save lives but instead spends five straight days sifting through the debris pile. He then returns to continue the work for months thereafter. The task is grim and dangerous: Harry Wanamaker “would die of cancer in 2010, his family believing his death was caused by the time he spent inhaling the toxic fumes at the site” (180). Of Welles helping the firefighters, Reynolds says, “He stayed and he put others first and that’s something you either have or you don’t. He had it, and he used it” (181).
In November 2001, Alison and Jeff visit their son’s Manhattan apartment “to clean out Welles’s belongings and take them home” (184). There, Jeff finds “an application to the FDNY, several of the lines already filled in, dated just a month before his death” (184). In December 2005, FDNY makes Welles an honorary member; Welles is only the second person so honored in the department’s 141-year history.
On their 40th wedding anniversary, Alison and Jeff learn that Osama bin Laden has been killed. Alison bursts into tears: “All this emotion […] bottled up inside of me” (185). A few days later, Alison and Jeff attend a private event in Manhattan with President Obama and 60 other family members of victims. The president knows about the Crowthers’ son and commiserates with them. He also signs a red bandanna brought by Alison, writing, “We won’t forget Welles” (190).
A college buddy of Welles, Drew Gallagher, becomes a producer at ESPN, where he puts together a short, 10th-anniversary documentary report on Welles as a former athlete who saves so many lives. Rinaldi does the reporting and writing. The piece airs early in September 2011. “In the days following, the reaction grew and spread, nearly overwhelming the family” (192). Coaches and teachers play the piece for their students; Jeff and Alison receive letters; sports teams again wear red bandannas. ESPN’s Welles film is rebroadcast every year on September 11.
Welles’s sisters Honor and Paige attend a football game in Florida between the University of Central Florida and Boston College—by now the alma mater for all three Crowther children—and discover that, on the Florida side of the stadium, “Nearly the entire student section, more than five thousand strong, was paying tribute to their brother, waving bandannas for a man they’d never met, an alumnus of the opposing school” (193).
On May 14, 2011, the National September 11 Memorial Museum opens at Ground Zero. At the ceremony, President Obama speaks, followed by Alison and Ling Young. The ceremony is deeply emotional for both women. The president describes the destruction on the 78th floor and a man who saved many of the injured. “They didn’t know his name. They didn’t know where he came from. But they knew their lives had been saved by the man in the red bandanna” (198).
Alison speaks, saying “that when people come here and see Welles’s red bandanna, they will remember how people helped each other that day” (200).
In the week leading up to a September 13, 2014 football game between host Boston College and nationally ranked University of Southern California, Boston’s team learns about Welles Crowther and his devotion to lacrosse, Boston College, and the people trapped in the World Trade Center. On campus, a campaign gets fans to bring bandannas to the game, where Alison and Jeff provide extra kerchiefs for anyone who hasn’t brought one. Team members sport bandannas or related symbols. Unranked Boston College comes from behind to beat USC, 37-31.
Fans pour onto the field, cheering. In the locker room, Alison and Jeff receive the game football, and each briefly expresses thanks to the assembled players. Not long after, the lobby of Boston’s football staff offices is emblazoned with “a wall-long photo from the USC game” (209).
Despite all the good that Welles’ memory has done for charities and school athletic programs, Jeff still weeps daily for his son.
Chapter 3 traces the steps Alison and others take to learn the details of Welles’s final hours, and how his friends and relatives find ways to publicly honor him and his great contribution. This chapter reinforces the idea that heroism is less about triumph and more about tying people together.
Though Welles loses his life, he saves at least 12 people from the South Tower. His rescue efforts center on the 78th floor, where dozens of people awaiting elevators are injured or killed by jet fuel and flying debris. After the plane strike, only 14 people manage to escape from the floors above, all of them via Stairwell A, the only intact staircase. Thus, while Welles has “lost the game,” he has “played it well,” proving that heroism involves selflessness and sacrifice.
Alison’s quest for answers in Chapter 3 also demonstrates the social nature of heroism. Welles’s final actions become clear only by piecing together snippets of evidence. The loss of her son torments Alison. Only a full recovery, not just of Welles’s physical remains but also of the story of his final day, can offer her solace. To that end, she gathers information that proves Welles ably answered the call of duty in his last moments.
The red bandanna becomes solidified as a symbol of that duty. The Boston College stadium filled with kerchief-waving fans and their football team’s resulting triumph over the USC Trojans reveal the triumph of good character over brute strength, and reinforce the idea that heroism is not a one-man-show but a coming together of many.
Chapter 3 constitutes an invitation to readers to take up Welles’s cause, in the sense of greater community participation, greater helpfulness toward one’s neighbors, and the willingness to risk self for others during hours of great need. Each time someone does so in Welles’s name, or simply waves a red bandanna, his sacrifice becomes slightly less tragic, and the bitterness of losing him softens just a little.
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