The Red Bandanna

Son of New York Times reporter and film critic Bosley Crowther, Jeff is a banker and volunteer fireman whose example inspires his son Welles to join him at the fire company, and, later, in a career in investment banking. Jeff and his son are close, and Jeff presents seven-year-old Welles with the red bandanna that Welles keeps on his person for the rest of his life; the bandanna becomes nationally famous after 9/11. 

Welles’s mom Alison starts out after college as a biology researcher, and later starts a family with Jeff that includes a son, Welles, and two daughters, Honor and Paige. Alison later works in sales. From time to time she has strange premonitions, the worst of which occurs on the morning of September 11, 2001, when she has a feeling that a death will occur in the family. Indeed, her son, Welles, that day sacrifices his life while saving others from the World Trade Center disaster.

Afterward, trying to find closure, Alison contacts people who may have seen her son on his last day; she meets with two women Welles helped rescue and begins to understand that he died doing what he loved, helping other people. She and husband Jeff start a charity that spreads the message of good citizenship inspired by Welles’s example. At the dedication of the National September 11 Memorial Museum, Alison follows President Obama to the podium, where she speaks briefly about what Welles’s actions mean to her and others. 

Chuck meets Welles in Spain at an overseas business internship, and they become fast friends. After college, they rent an apartment together in lower Manhattan; their friendship is cut short when Welles dies in the World Trade Center tragedy. Chuck learns of the tragedy while still in their apartment. 

Natalie works closely with Welles during his first year at the investment firm Sandler O’Neill. On 9/11, several months pregnant, Natalie delays her commute to work, and on the ferry crossing she witnesses the airliner strike the North Tower. She contacts grief-stricken Sandler family members and attends Welles’s memorial service. She then leaves New York and moves to Ohio. 

Seriously wounded when an airliner strikes the 78th floor of the World Trade Center South Tower, state tax agent Ling is helped down the stairs by Welles and escapes to safety. Later, she recalls Welles’s red bandanna and recognizes his face from pictures, confirming to the world the young man’s heroism. Ling and the Crowthers become friends, and Ling introduces Alison at the dedication of the National September 11 Memorial Museum.

An Empire Hook and Ladder Company alumnus, Wanamaker works as a fireman with FDNY’s Marine One fireboat operations. He throws a party for Empire volunteers on Marine One’s main boat, where Welles rediscovers his love for firefighting. Wanamaker later works for months on recovery efforts at the collapsed World Trade Center towers. Harry dies in 2011 of cancer, probably brought on by inhaling aerial contaminants at the disaster scene. 

Judy is one of many rescued by Welles; she confirms his identity through pictures.