HoehmTown Happenings: 25 Years Later: We Remember Those We Lost On 9/11 and Honor A Hometown Hero

It’s hard to believe that 25 years have passed since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, because so many of us still remember the day so vividly. Those of us old enough to remember will never forget. Those who lost loved ones that day will never be fully healed.  But time marches on, and with the birth of new generations of Americans too young to remember the day, it becomes more important to ensure that the 2,977 people whose lives were taken that day are never forgotten.

Every year, that remembrance carries a heavy burden for us here in Clarkstown, because 26 of our own were murdered that horrific day. We pause today to remember our family members, friends, and neighbors, who went to work on a beautiful late summer Tuesday morning and never returned home.

But as this unfathomable disaster unfolded before our eyes, in person for some and on television for millions of others, something remarkable also took place. People came together to help one another. Our nation unified in a way that many of us had never seen before. We witnessed courage, inspiration, love, friendship and charity. The best of humanity rose from the ashes left behind by the worst of it. And of all the remarkable individual examples of what it really means to be a hero we saw on that day, there is perhaps none greater than the extraordinary legacy left behind by one of our own- Welles Remy Crowther, who will be forever lovingly remembered as “the man in the red bandana.”

Welles grew up in Upper Nyack. He had a habit of carrying a red bandana in his pocket from the time he was a boy. It was a gift from his father, who did the same. In September of 2001, Welles was 24 years old, working as an equities trader on the 104th floor of the South Tower. When the tower was struck, panic ensued. Most of us would understandably be thinking of one thing at the time: the instinct to get yourself out alive. But not Welles, a volunteer firefighter; he tied his beloved red bandana around his face to filter through the smoke, and he went looking for people who needed help.

He found survivors trapped in the wreckage of the 78th floor sky lobby. He carried a badly burned woman on his back down seventeen flights of stairs. And then, despite having reached safety himself,  turned around and went back up to help others. Not just once, but again and again. Welles gave his own life while selflessly saving others. Witnesses who never learned his name remembered only the man in the red bandana.

It wasn’t until months later that his mother, Alison, realized this was her own son’s story. He is credited with saving as many as 18 lives before the tower came down around him.

On Tuesday, President Trump posthumously awarded Welles Remy Crowther with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, our nation’s highest civilian honor. I had the incredible honor of being in attendance for the ceremony in Washington, D.C. with the Crowther family and Congressman Lawler. For everyone who has carried his story forward, it was a recognition that the very best of humanity always rises above the worst; and there is no doubt that Welles Remy Crowther was among the best.

Welles left this world being the type of person we should all aspire to be. His values reflect our own here in Clarkstown. We are a community built on service, on neighbors looking out for each other, on volunteerism, and where ordinary people choose, again and again, to show up for one another. As we mark this solemn anniversary, I ask everyone to take a moment to remember all we lost 25 years ago, and to remember Welles. May his example continue to inspire the next generation of Clarkstown residents to live a life of courage, compassion, and service.

On September 11th, Clarkstown will once again pay tribute to the 26 residents with ties to our Town and the thousands of others who died on September 11th at our annual ceremony at Town Hall, at 5pm.  We will never forget.  We will remember the goodness and humanity of the fallen sons and daughters of Clarkstown and Rockland County and commemorate their lives and also the courage and strength that their surviving families have demonstrated.  We remember…

JON LESLIE ALBERT

ALEXANDER H. CHIANG

WELLES REMY CROWTHER

RICHARD JOSEPH CUDINA

THOMAS DOWD

CARL M. FLICKINGER

THOMAS J. FOLEY (FDNY)

FREDRIC NEAL GABLER

YUDHVIR S. JAIN

VANESSA LANG LANGER AND HER UNBORN CHILD

ERIC LEHRFELD

LAURA MARIA LONGING

MARK GAVIN LUDVIGSEN

JOSEPH ROSS MARCHBANKS, JR. (FDNY)

JOHN DANIEL MARSHALL (FDNY)

DONALD JAMES MCINTYRE (PAPD)

BRIAN CHRISTOPHER NOVOTNY

DAVID ORTIZ

KEVIN O. REILLY (FDNY)

VERNON ALLAN RICHARD (FDNY)

JOSEPH ROBERTO

ROBERT W. SPEAR, JR. (FDNY)

CRAIG WILLIAM STAUB

STEVEN WEINBERG

DAVID TERENCE WOOLEY (FDNY)

MICHAEL T. WHOLEY