Twenty‑five years after the September 11 attacks, the story of the youngest person killed that day — a two‑and‑a‑half‑year‑old girl on her very first airplane ride — continues to break hearts across America.
Christine Lee Hanson was traveling from Boston to Los Angeles with her parents, Peter and Sue Hanson, on what was supposed to be a joyous family vacation. They were flying to California to visit relatives before taking their little girl to Disneyland. It was Christine’s first time on an airplane.
Instead, the toddler became the youngest of the eight children killed on September 11, 2001.
“Dad, We’ve Been Hijacked”
At 8:52 a.m. on September 11, Peter Hanson called his father, Lee, from aboard United Airlines Flight 175 — the plane that had been hijacked by terrorists. “Dad, we’ve been hijacked,” he said, according to a transcript of the calls.
Peter told his father that the cockpit appeared to have been taken over and that a flight attendant had been stabbed. He asked Lee to contact United Airlines and report the incident. Instead, Lee called police in Easton, Connecticut.
Around 9:00 a.m., Peter called his father a second time. According to the 9/11 Commission’s account, Peter said passengers were becoming ill and that the plane was making sudden, jerky movements. He believed the pilot was no longer in control.
“Don’t worry, Dad,” Peter said. “If it happens, it will be very fast.”
Then the conversation took a terrifying turn. Peter repeatedly said, “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God” — before a woman screamed and the call abruptly ended. Just minutes later, Lee and his wife, Eunice, watched on television as the flight slammed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Peter, Sue, and Christine all died in the crash.
The Little Girl Behind the Headlines
While Christine’s final moments have become part of the historical record of September 11, her family has worked to preserve the memories of the little girl she was. The National September 11 Memorial & Museum describes Christine as a “bright, busy toddler who loved taking trips to the playground and helping her father in the garden.”
She had a stuffed Peter Rabbit that she adored — a gift from her grandmother, Eunice, in acknowledgment of Christine’s birth in the Chinese Year of the Rabbit.
Christine also had a habit of decorating everything with stickers. Two Winnie‑the‑Pooh stickers were still stuck to her Peter Rabbit toy. “She put stickers on everything she liked; I suppose it was her mark of approval,” Eunice said.
The museum also holds a photograph of Christine taken on her first birthday. In the picture, she is dressed in traditional Korean clothing, while the frame is carved with the word “Peace.”
A Word That Says It All
For Eunice, that word was especially fitting as she remembered her granddaughter and Christine’s parents. “The Peace frame containing Christine’s picture… is most poignant,” she said. “That one word describes Christine’s parents, who were loving people and believed in kindness.”
A Legacy of Love and Kindness
Twenty‑five years later, Christine Lee Hanson is remembered not just as the youngest victim of a national tragedy, but as a bright, busy little girl who loved playgrounds, gardens, stickers, and her Peter Rabbit. Her parents, Peter and Sue, are remembered as loving people who believed in kindness.
In a world forever marked by that terrible day, the Hanson family’s story is a reminder of what was lost — and what we must never forget. 🕊️
