#Respect forever lost. I hope his last moments in whatever assisted living center he makes it too is full of regret. I hope he regrets it al | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

emedhelp · 5 years

Text

9/11 survivors: We were saved by the man with the red bandanna

On Sept. 11, 2001, Welles Crowther sat at his desk on the 104th floor in the south tower of the World Trade Center and dialed his mother’s cellphone. His mother, Alison, never heard the call. Welles left a short message. “Mom . . . this is Welles. I . . . I want you to know that I’m OK.”

The time was 9:12 a.m. They were the last words his family would ever hear him speak.

Some details of what happened next remain a mystery. But through determination, careful questioning and a single clue, Welles’ parents uncovered a story of heroism that would touch a nation.

Welles was like a lot of us, if just a bit better — an honors student, but not the valedictorian; a Division I athlete, but not a star. From the time Welles was in preschool, when he was asked about his future, he had an immediate and confident answer: He would be a fireman. He grew up volunteering at the local fire department and loved the necessity and the camaraderie, the meaning of the role.

Twenty-four years old and fresh from college, Welles put his firefighting ambitions aside for a job with Sandler O’Neill, a small but powerful investment banking firm in the World Trade Center.

He may have looked the part of an investment banker, but there was one unorthodox piece to his personal dress code, not visible at first. It was a constant, tucked in the back right pocket of every set of trousers and every pair of suit pants.

It was a red bandanna his father had given him when he was a boy.

“You can always keep this back there,” his father, Jeff, told him then. “You’ll always have it if you need it.”

From that moment, he kept it in his back right pocket, every day.

Welles never came home after Sept. 11. The day after the towers fell, Jeff was the one who went to the city to search, to fill out the forms and answer the questions.

He was prepared for the worst, bringing copies of his son’s fingerprints and dental records.

The families of the missing arrived early. In lines snaking around the block, they carried evidence of their love and proofs of identity. There were pictures and letters, medical records and physical descriptions. The notices were everywhere: on telephone poles and mailboxes, on streetlamps and tree trunks. They formed a pleading and dense collage.

For many weeks, Alison couldn’t look at any pictures of her son. While others carried photos of their lost always at the ready, she found images of Welles too painful to see.

She and Jeff needed Welles to be found, and returned. They understood that this was a search that could end only in ritual, but the ritual mattered. He was not only gone. He was lost. There was a difference, a feeling that he’d been abandoned, by his family and the world, left in a place somehow colder than death.

Six months later, on March 19, 2002, Welles’ body was found.

Jeff and Alison met with a medical examiner and asked their first question: What condition was he in when recovered?

Part of his lower right jaw was missing. As was his right hand. Beyond that, the rest of the body was largely intact.

He was recovered in the debris of what had been the lobby of the south tower. Welles had somehow made it to the bottom of the building before it collapsed. Why didn’t he make it out?

They learned more. Welles’ body was found in an area of the pit where firefighters’ remains were recovered. Most specifically, he lay close to FDNY Assistant Chief Donald Burns, one of the most respected members of the entire department. Burns’ body was discovered in an area of rubble beside the remains of 10 other firefighters.

“People found in that area,” said John Ryan, the commander of the Port Authority Police Department’s rescue and recovery operation at Ground Zero, “were seconds away from being clear.”

To be so close to an escape but to remain inside was not coincidence. Likely, it was a choice. Welles made it. He was helping. He was at work.

They needed to find out more.

On Sunday morning of Memorial Day weekend 2002, Alison opened the New York Times and saw a feature piece on the front page with the large headline “Fighting to Live as the Towers Died.”

By the 128th paragraph of the story, Alison stopped, staring at the two sentences: A mysterious man appeared at one point, his mouth and nose covered with a red handkerchief. He was looking for a fire extinguisher.

She was gripped by the three simple words: A red handkerchief.

“Jeff! Jeff! Get in here!”

Alison had the paper open in front of her. “I found Welles,” she said.

From there, she tracked down one of the survivors featured in the story, a woman named Judy Wein.

When they spoke, Judy told Alison there was an email chain connecting a group of south-tower survivors, the few who’d made it out from the 78th-floor sky lobby or above. She and her husband, Gerry, would send the inquiry down the line, to see who might have seen the man, if anyone else spotted a red bandanna.

Then Alison asked a simple question: “Can I send you a picture of my son?”

When the picture reached her, Judy didn’t hesitate in her response. “Yes,” Judy said, “that was the man.”

To be certain, Judy and Gerry sent the photo of Welles out through the survivors’ email chain. Was there anyone else who escaped the building who remembered seeing this man?

A reply came quickly, not from a survivor but the child of one. Richard Young saw the email and wondered if this was the man his mother, Ling, had told him about from the beginning, the man who walked with her down the stairs from the wreckage of the sky lobby, on the 78th floor.

As the wing of Flight 175 burst through the wall, the sky lobby exploded. Whatever the dimensions of hell, Ling Young landed inside them. The impact had thrown her from one end of the elevator lobby to the other. She was surrounded by scores of the dead and dying. Next to her was a man whose facial features had been shorn off his skull.

She gazed down at her body. Her injuries and severe burns didn’t register; there was no pain, the hurt smothered by shock. She continued to sit where she was, on a portion of the floor still intact, uncertain what to do.

That’s when she heard the young man’s voice.

“I found the stairs,” the voice said. “Follow me. Only help the ones that you can help. And follow me.”

“It was a young man,” she recalled a decade later. “Not very husky. Very short hair.” She remembered he was wearing a white T-shirt and appeared to be uninjured. She thought she saw him with a red bandanna but wasn’t sure.

One image was clear: He was carrying a woman over his shoulder.

Young didn’t know who the woman was, only that the man had apparently been carrying her the entire way down since leaving the 78th floor.

At the 61st floor, he urged Young and the woman he was carrying to continue downward. But he wasn’t going with them.

“I’m going back up,” was all he said.

That was the last time Young saw him.

Alison sent Ling Young a picture of her son dressed formally, for his college graduation. Young couldn’t be sure, so Alison sent another, more casual photo.

Ling looked at the man she’d never seen before Sept. 11, whom she last saw turning to go back up the stairs to the blood and fire.

The face. She looked at nothing more than the face.

One word: Yes.

One thought: He saved my life.

The Crowthers were so grateful for the light that had been cast on Welles’ final hours. To be able to look into the faces of these two lives he saved, to know their names, to hear their voices. But there were still so many unanswered questions.

Namely, how many others on the 78th floor might never have seen the red bandanna but had heard a voice, or seen a hand, or followed a lead that came from Welles?

The FDNY credits Welles with saving at least five people. It is impossible to say for sure, but it could’ve been more.

The story of the man in the red bandanna, and those he saved, would spread.

In the spring of 2014, President Obama stood in the footprint of the fallen towers, to speak at the opening of the National September 11 Memorial Museum.

Of the 2,977 who died in the attacks that day, the president chose to mention one by name: Welles Crowther — a man “who gave his life, so others might live.”

A replica red bandanna is on display at the museum today — in tribute to Welles.

In December 2006, Welles’ family gathered in Downtown Brooklyn for an event held just once before in the 141 years since the FDNY’s founding. It was only the second time the department would posthumously name someone an honorary member of its ranks.

Months before, Jeff had found an application to the FDNY in Welles’ apartment. Several of the lines were filled in, dated just a month before his death.

Now four years later, Jeff hoped Welles would know that although some of the lines would forever be blank, his application to the FDNY was received, his submission reviewed.

Yes, Welles. You were accepted.

Video length 2 minutes 54 seconds 2:54

Members of Congress observe Moment of Silence for 9/11 and sing God Bless America

0 notes

dracolord1208 · 8 years

Text

The Question

Dracolord1208

AO3

Day 7: New Beginnings

Summary:

Symmetra and Junkrat are overseeing their children's center when a big question is asked by one of the kids. The couple decides to think about it and decide later. The two choose to get advice from a close friend Mercy.

Notes:

So this takes place a few months after Remembrance. During that the married couple found and met with Jamison's long lost sister Chloe.

“Hey get back here you scoundrel!” Junkrat called out to the kid that just decided to steal candy from Junkrat.

“Never old man.” “Old man. I’m 29.” “Hahaha,” The kid continued to run away from the Junker all around the orphanage.

“Will you two please calm it down Chloe and I are reading to the other children.”

“Sorry mam.”

“Yeah. Sorry love.”

Junkrat and Symmetra found themselves back in Australia for the weekend. They were currently helping out at the Vaswani Children’s Home where Jamison’s sister Chloe worked. After many sizable donation’s Symmetra saw it fit to buy the place out and run it as a private institution. Junkrat, however, was the one to insist on changing its original name to a nobler one. The couple would now find themselves making weekend trips to help around the campus and make sure that the kids would have everything they could need.

The children’s home had also diversified to provide aid for autistic children now. Symmetra began hiring staff that was specially trained to support autistic children. She wanted to provide the services that she felt would have helped her as a child to any children with exceptional needs. The kids who arrived were not going to have to grow up with the same difficult childhood that she had, and Junkrat was going to do whatever he could to assist her. Junkrat decided to use a majority of his money to fund the children’s home.

At this moment Satya was surrounded by children that were enraptured by her voice. As she followed along with the book, she would change for voice becoming overly animated at the drop of a hat. The children loved her. Although she did like to keep her distance and avoid physical contact, her motherly instincts would kick in at the drop of a hat helping even the dirtiest of kids.

“The Queen infiltrated the enemy kingdom’s stronghold. She snuck her way through the palace looking for her target. Finally, she found it. Records of the royalties wrong doings, proof that they had knowingly endangered their people. The Queen quickly escaped having what she needed to take the crown down. When she returned her, Knight was there. He had known what she was going to do and instead of protesting her plans danger, he revealed that he had already prepared what they needed. As the sun arose the next day the world had changed the kingdom had been changed the people knew of the nobleman’s wrong doings, and they knew that the Queen was the one that saved them.” Symmetra closed the book that she was holding signaling the end of the story and the beginning of the inevitable questions and answer part of story time.

“What happened to the Queen?”

“She took over the kingdom and became the new ruler.”

“What about her Knight? Did they get married?”

“Yes during a beautiful wedding ceremony the two were wed.”

As Symmetra panned the group looking for the next question to answer she saw that Junkrat had at some point joined the reading and was lovingly watching her.

“Did they have any kids? Yeah. Yeah! Yeah!” The kids filled with energy at this new development in the story.

Immediately filled with embarrassment Symmetra wasn’t sure how she should answer. Unfortunately, Symmetra made the grave mistake of looking over to Junkrat who was equally red and nervous.

“Uh yeah. The Queen and her Knight had plenty of children they even made orphanages were all the kids of the kingdom were able to live and play and find fabulous homes.”

The crowd erupted into cheers at this new ending of the story. Lucky Chloe was able to detect awkwardness in the air, and she decided to herd the kids away to allow the couple some privacy.

Junkrat was a bit hesitant as he approached Symmetra. “Well might fine story you got there.”

“Thank you.”

“Noticed it wasn’t exactly…” Junkrat bent down to read the cover of the book she was holding. “Harry Potter? It sounded a bit like a different story I know.”

“What story would that be?”

“One about this dynamite gal I know that, fought hard for everything she has. I think I might be in love with this beautiful Queen.”

“Well thank you, my Knight, in soot-covered armor.”

“It’s hard to stay clean in my white armor when I am fighting dragons.” Junkrat pulled Symmetra into a side hug while giving her a kiss on her head.

“Aw. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“So we set up our orphanage, and we saved the town, um. About those kids?”

“Yes.”

“Is, that, um, something that you want?”

“Maybe. I don’t know. I love the idea of having a large family. I was alone for so long, and when we started getting closer, it felt good, but raising children is so challenging. I just don’t know.”

“That’s okay.” Peppering Satya in kisses he held her tight in hopes of calming her down. “We have a lot of time to think about it. No reason to jump to conclusions. We aren’t in a rush, are we? Do you have one in ya now?” Junkrat dropped to a knee and put his ear to her stomach.

“No. Come on. I am not pregnant right now.”

Raising from his knee, he returned to hugging Satya. “Ah don’t get me excited like that you know how I am.”

“Yes, you're incorrigible.” Satya now pulled Junkrat into a full kiss.

“Ew, they're being gross! Ew Ew.” The kids had returned and were gawking at the couple as they broke from their kiss.

“I guess that you two figured it all out.”

“Yes, Chloe thanks for the help.”

“Anytime Satya.” _____

“Alright you. Stay safe on the way back.”

“Thank you. We will be back next month. If you need anything as always feel free to email me and we can work out getting it to you.”

“Thank you, and Jamison.”

“Yeah?”

“Take care of Satya. She is the best, and I love her.”

“Same. No problem mate.”

“Take care.”

The married couple headed off and boarded their plane off back to the base. On the aircraft, they didn’t talk that much both of them were decided to take the time to think about the overlaying question. “Are they ready for a baby?” Symmetra called her OBGYN and made an appointment to get some information. Junkrat decided to visit Mercy once they were back home. The rest of the flight, the two of them, started researching what being a parent would entail.

Junkrat’s research consisted of googling short strings of thoughts as he jumped from one worry to another. What does being a dad mean? How do you be the best parent possible? What does an ordinary family do? How do you raise a kid? Radiation poisoning affecting future children? Junkrat would read a few sentences in each article he pulled up before a new question popped up and he would follow that lead.

Symmetra’s research was methodical detailed. Symmetra would thoroughly read the best scientific journal written by the most respected researcher in the field. Her questions did differ from Junkrat’s, while he was wondering what being a parent would entail Symmetra was full of worries of childbirth. The dangers of childbirth. What age are you too old to have a baby? Common congenital disabilities? If the mother has autism what are the chances her child will be? The last question was the one that worried Symmetra the most. While she knew that she would love her child no matter what she also fully knew the challenges that they would face in life.

When the plane landed, the two were entirely devoted to finding out as much as possible about this challenge as possible. As the two made it home and passed out on their bed, they experienced a restless night as nightmares of even worse scenarios filled their heads. When morning arrived, the two knew that they were going to need to seek help.

First off Junkrat needed to go and meet with his doctor Mercy. When Junkrat first joined Overwatch Mercy asked him to provide her with his medical records, figuring that a lie would be better than nothing Jamison forged fake medical records for himself and Roadhog. This seemingly deceived Mercy as they were able to join Overwatch just fine but once they had officially met for the first time, Mercy immediately knew she had been tricked by Junkrat. With just one look over Junkrat, she was able to diagnose all sorts of ailments, because of this Mercy took it upon herself to fix him. When Mercy was finally able to give him a full inspection she was surprised that he was even alive. As he gave her a rundown of his medical history, she was even more impressed.

“How did you loses your arm?”

“Well I got a pretty bad cut on it, so I just wrapped it up, and it was all right for a while. Then the cut got all gross and started hurting dreadful. Then over time it began to spread down my arm. It was around then we just decided it was best just to get rid of it, so we just took the arm off.”

“And how did you remove it. What procedure and anesthetics did you use?”

“Ana what? No, we just used a car crusher.”

“A what!?”

“Just one of those car crushers that you use to crush a car flat. Just poked my arm in and closed it flat.”

“You had nothing to alleviate the pain?”

“Well had a belt and a gun so yeah. Once it was crushed, they chopped the last part up and wrapped my arm, and I were good in about a month.”

Mercy’s jaw dropped that wild nature of it was almost too much to deal with.

“And your leg?”

“Oh got stuck in an omnic trap and just had to get out. After a few hours, there was no way to break they trap so I had to improvise. Lucky I had some shape charges on me at the time so boom and I was free.”

“You blew up your leg to escape a bear trap?”

“Yup.”

Mercy was now holding her face as she confirmed his stories with x-rays and blood workups. She then made it mandatory that they met once a week until forever. That’s why Mercy knew it was important that Junkrat called to set up an appointment before their regular time.

“’Ello Doc.” Junkrat sat on the examination table as Mercy entered the room.

“Greetings Jamison how can I help you today.” Mercy crossed the room and began the routine check-up as she asked him more questions. “Are you feeling nauseous, out of breath, or dizzy?”

“No.”

“Well, have you sustained any new injuries? Have you fallen or had any nose bleeds lately?”

“No.”

Finishing her checkup Mercy took some quick notes then turned to Junkrat. “So what do you need?”

“Well this um is a little personal and it involves Satya so that I would appreciate some delicacy in this situation.”

“Of course Jamison anything that happens here is completely confidential.”

“Well we just came back from the kids’ home, and while we were there, um, the question came up.”

“Question?”

“Kids. Do we want them you know?”

“I see that is an important question. Well, are you ready for a child?”

“I don’t know Doc. I mean I don’t even know if I can have kids, or if they would be healthy. I mean what if we have a kid and he has two heads!”

“That’s not likely.”

“I’ve seen it. Little lizard with two heads, it doesn’t know what direction to run away, so it just runs in circles.”

“I am certain that is not as likely as you think but if you want, we can conduct some test.”

“That sounds fantastic Doc so what do you need?”

“Well, I’ll need a sample so if you could just take this cup into the bathroom and fill it that would be great. Also to help you out here’s some reading material.” Mercy handed Junkrat a cup and some porno mags like it was nothing and just went back to taking notes.

“Oh okay.” After a few minutes and a few memories of Symmetra Junkrat returned with the required sample. “Here your go.” Junkrat relented the sample with a shade of pink encompassing his face.

“Alright I will need a few minutes to study this, and I will be right back.” True to her word Mercy returned with the results from the test in hand. “Well, it seems that your time in a radioactive wasteland has affected you, but there is not much cause for concern. It appears that your sperm count is lower than average, but your sperm does appear to be perfectly healthy. This means it might take you two longer to get to having kids, but it should be possible.”

“So they won’t have two heads?”

“No, radiation poisoning has not caused mutations in human children. I’m sure your baby would be okay.”

“That’s surprising to hear.”

“Well, do you have any other questions?”

“Yes!”

Junkrat proceeded to hound Mercy for all of her knowledge on the subject. Although Mercy did not have any children of her own yet, she was the most motherly person Junkrat knew, so her advice was incredibly valuable to Jamison. After a few hours of questioning Junkrat had to finally halt his questioning due to Mercy having another appointment that she had to prepare for.

While Symmetra no longer directly worked for Vishkar anymore they still provided her with the best insurance possible for life. With this, she was able to visit her doctor whenever she saw fit. She was also able to pick her doctor, and Vishkar would cover the cost. That’s why Symmetra found herself in the waiting room of the world’s most renowned doctor, Angela Ziegler. Symmetra’s appointment was supposed to start over an hour ago and while waiting Satya’s worries began to spiral out of control.

“Mrs. Vaswani. Dr. Ziegler is ready to see you if you just follow me I’ll lead you to the examination room.”

Mercy walked into the examination room after the nurse finished taking some quick readings. “Alright have a good day. Sorry for the wait my earlier patient had a lot of questions, and it took longer than expected to finish up.”

“Hello.”

“So how can I help you today?”

“Well over the weekend the topic of having children came up. So I would like to look into the possibility of me having children.”

“Okay. Now how do you feel about having a child?”

Symmetra felt tears start to sting her eyes. “I’m scared. I don’t know what to do. I want to make our family larger, but I don’t know if I can. What if I can’t get pregnant? What if I can’t handle being pregnant and the baby or I die? What if the child dies? What do I do if they have autism like I am, and I can’t help them? If I fail and I can’t do will Jamie leave me?”

“Oh no, Satya.” Mercy pulled Satya into a welcoming hug. “Oh, Satya. It’s going to be okay. You are going to be a great mom. Okay. You are so, so, strong. You are one of the most caring and beautiful people I know. You are going to be fine. I am going to make sure that you have a great time being pregnant and I am going to get you through this. Satya doesn't worry okay.”

Wiping away her tears and sniffling Satya pulled away from Mercy. “Thank you.”

“And Satya, Jamison loves you. He would never leave you. I suppose I shouldn’t tell you this but… Jamison was just in here and was asking about the same thing. He loves you, and you are going to be great parents.”

“Thank you, Angela.”

“Anytime. Why don’t we take some test and see how everything is working. Next, we can talk about removing your IUD.”

“That sounds okay.”

After finishing all of her tests, Symmetra was feeling a lot more confident about being a mother.

“You should be okay now. Now I want you to talk to Jamison more. Doctor’s orders.”

“Okay.”

Symmetra headed home finding Junkrat working on his tablet when she entered.

“’Ello love how’s your day?”

“It was pretty good. I had a doctor’s appointment with Angela.”

“How did it go?”

“Very well. How was your meeting with Angela?”

“What? How’d you know? Did she tell you?”

“No. There aren’t that many people with the last name Vaswani that can check into to Angela’s office for a checkup.”

“You got me.”

“Well, do you want to talk about it?”

“I guess.”

The couple sat at their dinner table to recap the events of the day over dinner.

“So Doc checked out my swimmers. She told me that count could be higher but other than that I’m all cleared for takeoff. I was worried that the kid might have eight arms and bat wings and all that, but Doc proved me wrong. What about you?”

“Angela informed me that I am healthy enough to be a mother. She said that I should not expect many complications during the pregnancy. She also told me that we should start sooner rather than later depending on how many children we want.”

“How many is that?”

“More than one for sure. I’ve always wanted a big family, and I think we could handle multiple kids.”

“I could see it. I’ll handle the chaotic moments, and you can give us all order.”

“I like the sound of that. But there was one more thing Angela told me.”

“What’s that.”

“Well due to our medical histories there is a higher chance than normal that our child might be neurodivergent like us. The chances of them showing symptoms of autism and ADHD is greater because they are hereditary in nature.”

“And?”

“And!? And I am worried about them. It’s not easy growing up like that. The world isn’t a nice place for children. Are you not worried about their futures?”

“No, no. That’s not what I mean. I am trying to say, so what? So what if our kid ain’t other people’s ideals of perfect? I know that I love ‘em even though they aren’t even real yet. I know I won’t stop loving them ever. I know that you will love them as well. I know that they will do great and survive no matter what because that’s what their parents did. I got along just dandy in the wastes, never once did I think I was at a disadvantage. You can do amazing things that no one else in the whole world can do. You are so strong and amazing, and I know that that kid will do amazing things because you are their mom.”

“Do you mean that?”

“Every word and then some.”

“Thank you. I love you.”

“I love you too Satya.”

The two embraced in a joyful kiss that was filled with relief and passion.

“So there was something else I had Angela do while I there.”

“Hm?”

“I had her remove my IUD.”

Junkrat turned his head questioningly.

“So if this conversation went well, we could start right away.”

Junkrat finally understood her meaning. “Well then to the bedroom!” Junkrat proceeded to lunge toward Symmetra and picked her up bridal style as he carried her to the bedroom.

“Put me down. Put me down. Oof.” Symmetra laughter was the last thing that was heard before the bedroom door was closed.

Notes:

So if you like this get ready for a lot more, I plan on doing some adjustments to Remberance and The Question, and they will be part of my new long fic. I hope you want to read a married Junkmetra because there is going to be more. I hope you all have a good week and life. I love all of you. My Tumblr is http://dracolord1208.tumblr.com/

Series this work belongs to:

« Part 7 of the Draco's Junkmetra Week series

#symmrat week 2017 #junkmetra #symmrat #day 7 #overwatch #draco original #junkrat #symmetra

24 notes · View notes