23 August 2016

15 years on from 11th September 2001 ("9/11")...


Transcript:

Lee: My name is Lee Hanson.

Eunice: I’m Eunice Hanson.

Lee: We’re here to talk about our children - Peter, our son, Sue Kim, our daughter in-law, and our granddaughter Christine Lee - who were all killed on 9/11 while flying on United Airlines 175. The morning of the eleventh we got up and we were having breakfast. We were talking about the kids taking the trip and it was Christine’s first trip in an airplane. And um, the phone rang and it was Peter, and he said: “Dad, we’ve been hijacked”. He said: “I think they’ve already killed somebody and I don’t think the pilot’s in control of the plane.” I hung up and I called the police and they said: “A plane’s crashed into the World Trade Center and you ought to turn your television on.” Uh, then I waited. I didn’t want to call Peter because I didn’t want to attract any attention to him. He called again and told me he thought they were going to crash into a building because they’d been talking about it. He said: “Well don’t worry Dad, if they do, it will be quick.” And, just after that, Peter very quietly said: “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.” Then I heard what sounded like a woman screaming, and everything was cut off. We turned to the television.

Eunice: And we saw the plane burst into flames and the building explode. And uh, I wanted to reach out, I said: “my kids are on that plane.” I kept shaking my head. “This isn’t real, this can’t happen.” To this day, Peter’s friends are in contact with me, and, I get cards and pictures of their children. I should be happy for them, and I am. But I think “I don’t have that anymore.” I have nothing of the people I love the most. It had to be that they stayed together right to the end, died in each other’s arms.