Following FBI New York's 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony last Friday, Deputy Director Christopher Raia and Assistant Director in Charge James Barnacle presented retired Special Agent Wesley Wong with the FBI Medal of Valor. The bureau said the award recognizes Wong's courage and actions during the September 11, 2001, attacks, according to FBI New York.
Wong wrote on LinkedIn that the medal recognized his immediate response as a first responder and his assistance to FDNY personnel in removing chaplain Father Mychal Judge after Judge collapsed at the World Trade Center. Wong also said he had not known he would be honored at the ceremony.
What the bureau says happened
Wong went to the World Trade Center after officials confirmed that a plane had struck the first tower. He became the senior FBI official directing operations at the site, relaying information to headquarters and assigning work to agents, according to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.
When the South Tower fell, Wong and other first responders were trapped inside the North Tower. As they tried to leave, Wong found Father Judge unconscious in the lobby and alerted the group. The responders carried Judge outside and turned him over to emergency medical personnel before an evacuation order, according to accounts from the FBI and the Memorial.
What the Medal of Valor recognizes
According to the FBI, its Medal of Valor recognizes "an exceptional act of heroism or voluntary risk of personal safety and life" in the direct line of duty or within the scope of FBI employment, in the face of criminal adversaries. The honor has also been awarded for earlier extraordinary incidents. FBI records say Bruce J. Gebhardt received the Medal of Valor for action during an airplane hijacking in Denver, Colorado, in 1976.
Wong then made his way toward 26 Federal Plaza, taking shelter in a doorway when the North Tower collapsed. He later joined FBI personnel at the command post and worked through the night, until 5 the next morning, according to the Memorial's account.
Earlier public remarks
Wong has previously discussed the attacks in public. He and five others participated in the 9/11 Memorial's fifth annual Anniversary in the Schools webinar on September 11, 2020, according to the Memorial. In earlier remarks cited by Police1, Wong said FBI personnel initially feared the attacks marked the beginning of additional strikes; that older quotation is not necessary to explain the current award and is omitted here.
