The Youngest 9/11 Victim: Remembering Christine Hanson and Her Father’s Heartbreaking Final Call
On September 11, 2001, millions of people watched in disbelief as an ordinary morning in America turned into one of the darkest days in modern history.
Four commercial airplanes had been hijacked. Two would crash into the World Trade Center in New York, one would strike the Pentagon, and a fourth would crash in Pennsylvania after passengers and crew fought back against the hijackers.
Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives.
Among them was a little girl who was only two and a half years old.
Her name was Christine Lee Hanson.
Christine was traveling with her parents, Peter and Sue Hanson, aboard United Airlines Flight 175, which had departed Boston for Los Angeles. The family was looking forward to a trip to California, including a visit to Disneyland. Instead, their journey became part of one of the most tragic stories in American history.
Christine was the youngest of the eight children killed aboard the hijacked aircraft on September 11. The memory of her has been preserved by her family and by the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, where one of her beloved childhood toys is now part of the collection.
But behind the historical events is a deeply personal story — a father making desperate phone calls from a hijacked airplane, a grandfather receiving those calls on the ground, and a family that would never again be the same.
A Little Girl With a Big Personality
Before she became known as one of the youngest victims of September 11, Christine was simply a little girl growing up with her parents in Groton, Massachusetts.
Her parents, Peter and Sue Hanson, had chosen a quieter life outside Boston. They wanted Christine to grow up surrounded by nature and family rather than only the fast pace of city life.
Peter was an enthusiastic gardener. He planted trees, flowers, and bushes around the family's home, and Christine loved being involved.
According to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, she was known for helping her father in the garden and even talking to the flowers and trees they planted together.
Those details are especially moving because they show Christine not as a name in a list of victims, but as what she really was: a lively toddler with a family, a home, favorite toys, and a future that should have lasted for decades.
Her grandfather Lee Hanson later recalled a visit with the family when Christine was still very young.
He remembered reading her a story before saying goodbye. He told her that he loved her, and Christine responded that she loved him too.
Those simple words became part of the family's memories of a child whose life ended far too soon.
The Family’s Trip to California
On the morning of September 11, Peter and Sue Hanson boarded United Airlines Flight 175 with their daughter.
The flight was scheduled to travel from Boston to Los Angeles.
The family had plans in California. They intended to visit relatives and go to Disneyland.
For Christine, it was a trip that should have been filled with excitement — an airplane ride, family time, and a visit to one of the most famous places for children in the world.
Instead, Flight 175 became one of the four aircraft hijacked that morning.
The National September 11 Memorial & Museum records that Christine was traveling with her parents and describes her as the youngest of the eight children who were killed aboard the hijacked planes.
No one on that flight could have imagined what was about to happen.
Peter Hanson’s First Call
As the hijacking unfolded, Peter Hanson managed to call his father, C. Lee Hanson, from the airplane.
At approximately 8:52 a.m., Lee received the call at his home in Connecticut.
Peter told him that the plane had been taken over.
According to the official 9/11 Commission Report, Peter told his father that he believed the cockpit had been taken, that a flight attendant had been stabbed, and that the plane was making strange movements. He asked his father to contact United Airlines and tell them that Flight 175 was the aircraft in trouble.
For Lee Hanson, the call was terrifying.
His son was calling from an airplane that had been hijacked.
And on that morning, the situation was becoming more frightening by the minute.
Lee did what his son asked. He contacted authorities and passed along the information.
But Peter would call again.
The Second Call
The second conversation was even more heartbreaking.
By this point, Peter understood that the situation was becoming increasingly dangerous.
His father was on the ground, watching the news as the events of September 11 unfolded.
Peter had no way of knowing exactly what would happen.
But he knew that the airplane was in serious danger.
Historical accounts of the call report Peter telling his father not to worry and saying that if something happened, it would happen quickly.
Then, during the conversation, Peter became alarmed.
He reportedly repeated words expressing shock and fear.
His father was still on the phone.
And then the call ended.
Lee Hanson was watching television coverage of the attacks when he realized the airplane carrying his son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter was approaching New York.
At approximately 9:03 a.m., United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
Peter, Sue, and Christine were killed.
The family that had boarded a plane expecting a vacation never reached California.
A Father, a Mother and Their Little Girl
It is easy, decades later, to think about September 11 through statistics.
Nearly 3,000 people killed.
Four hijacked planes.
Two towers destroyed.
Thousands of families affected.
But every number represented an individual life.
For the Hanson family, three people were lost together.
Peter was a father.
Sue was a mother.
Christine was their little daughter.
Christine wasn't old enough to understand what was happening around her.
She was only two and a half.
She didn't know what terrorism was.
She didn't understand the significance of the airplane she was traveling on.
She was simply a child going on vacation with her parents.
That is one of the reasons her story continues to affect people so deeply.
The Toy That Helped Keep Her Memory Alive
After Christine's death, her family kept many memories of her.
Among the most meaningful was one of her favorite toys: a stuffed Peter Rabbit.
The National September 11 Memorial & Museum now preserves the toy as part of its collection. The rabbit has light brown and white fur, wears a blue coat, and holds a plush carrot.
There are also Winnie-the-Pooh stickers on the toy.
Those stickers were placed there by Christine herself.
Her family remembered that she liked putting stickers on things she loved.
It was a small habit — the kind of thing that might seem insignificant during an ordinary childhood.
But after her death, those stickers became part of the physical evidence of who she was.
They were her little mark.
A reminder that this was not simply an object belonging to a victim.
It was a toy belonging to a little girl.
A toy she played with.
A toy she loved.
A toy that had been part of her childhood before the world changed forever.
Remembering Christine as More Than a Victim
The National September 11 Memorial & Museum has worked to preserve the personal stories of those who died.
That matters because historical tragedies can sometimes reduce individuals to statistics.
Christine's story reminds us that every victim had a life beyond September 11.
She had parents.
She had grandparents.
She had a home.
She had favorite toys.
She loved being outside.
She helped her father in the garden.
She was excited about a family trip.
She had grandparents who loved her.
She had a future that her family expected to see unfold.
She should have grown up.
She should have gone to school.
She should have celebrated birthdays.
She should have made friends, experienced adulthood, and created a life of her own.
Instead, her life ended when she was still a toddler.
The Pain of Lee Hanson
For Christine's grandfather, the tragedy was almost impossible to comprehend.
He had spoken to his son while Peter was still alive.
He had heard his voice.
He knew that his son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter were on the airplane.
And then he watched the plane crash.
The 9/11 Commission documented Peter's calls because they became an important part of the historical record of what happened aboard Flight 175.
But for Lee, the call wasn't history.
It was his son.
It was the last conversation between a father and his child.
That is what makes these final calls so painful to read about.
The words were spoken during an unfolding catastrophe, but they were also family conversations.
A son was calling his father.
A husband was traveling with his wife.
A father was traveling with his little girl.
And none of them knew that those moments would become their final hours together.
The Youngest of the Children
Christine was not the only child who died on September 11.
Eight children were killed aboard the hijacked aircraft that day.
But at just two and a half years old, Christine was the youngest.
Her age makes her story especially heartbreaking because she had barely begun her life.
She was still discovering the world.
Still learning new words.
Still playing with toys.
Still following her parents around the house.
Still enjoying the simple things that make childhood special.
The museum's records emphasize her age and her family life, helping preserve the memory of the person behind the historical tragedy.
The Vacation That Never Happened
Perhaps one of the saddest elements of the story is the reason the Hanson family was on Flight 175 in the first place.
They were traveling for family and pleasure.
They were going to California.
They had plans to visit relatives.
And they planned to take Christine to Disneyland.
For a child, Disneyland represented exactly the kind of magical experience that families remember for years.
Christine never got to see it.
The trip ended before the family ever reached its destination.
The ordinary excitement of a family vacation was replaced by unimaginable tragedy.
A Family’s Memories Remain
More than two decades later, Christine's story has not disappeared.
Her family donated cherished belongings to the 9/11 Memorial Museum, including her Peter Rabbit toy and photographs. The museum has preserved these objects so future generations can understand that behind the enormous historical event were thousands of individual lives.
One photograph of Christine was particularly meaningful to her grandmother, Eunice Hanson.
The picture was taken when Christine was one year old, and it was preserved in a frame featuring the word “Peace.”
That single word became especially poignant after Christine's death.
Her family remembered her parents as loving people who valued kindness.
Their daughter, who had been surrounded by love, became part of a history defined by violence.
Yet the family's decision to preserve her belongings also ensured that her story could be remembered through something gentle and personal.
A child's toy.
A photograph.
A family memory.
A few words between a grandfather and his son.
Why Her Story Still Matters
Every anniversary of September 11 brings back memories of the attacks.
For many people, the images are familiar.
The airplanes.
The towers.
The smoke.
The firefighters.
The crowds.
The memorial ceremonies.
But stories such as Christine's remind us to look beyond the images.
September 11 was not only a national tragedy.
It was thousands of individual tragedies.
Every person who died left someone behind.
A parent lost a child.
A child lost a parent.
A husband lost a wife.
A wife lost a husband.
A brother lost a sister.
A family lost its future.
Christine's story is particularly powerful because she was so young.
She had done nothing to deserve what happened.
She was simply traveling with the people she loved.
The Lasting Memory of a Little Girl
Today, Christine Lee Hanson is remembered not simply as the youngest child killed on 9/11, but as a little girl who loved her family, enjoyed nature, helped her father in the garden, and had favorite toys.
Her Peter Rabbit remains as a tangible connection to that childhood.
Her family's memories preserve the sound of her voice.
And her father's final calls preserve a moment when a son reached out to his father during an unimaginable crisis.
The calls are painful to remember.
But they are also important.
They remind us that history is made of human beings.
Peter wasn't just a passenger on Flight 175.
He was someone's son.
He was someone's husband.
He was Christine's father.
Sue wasn't simply another name among the victims.
She was a mother.
And Christine wasn't merely a number among the thousands who died.
She was a little girl who should have had a lifetime ahead of her.
A Memory That Will Never Disappear
The years have passed, but the Hanson family's loss remains.
Christine would be an adult today.
She would have grown up in a world completely different from the one she knew as a toddler.
Her family will never know what she might have become.
They will never see her graduate.
They will never meet the friends she would have made.
They will never watch her choose a career.
They will never see her become an adult.
That is one of the cruelest parts of losing someone so young: the grief includes not only the person who was lost, but also all the future moments that will never happen.
Yet through photographs, memories, stories, and personal belongings, Christine's family has kept her presence alive.
Her Peter Rabbit remains.
Her story remains.
And the memory of the little girl who boarded Flight 175 with her parents remains part of the history of September 11.
❤️ Remembering Christine
The story of September 11 should never be reduced to the destruction of buildings.
Buildings can be rebuilt.
Memorials can be constructed.
History books can record dates and times.
But the lives lost can never be replaced.
Christine Lee Hanson was two and a half years old.
She was a daughter, a granddaughter, a child who loved her toys and helped her father in the garden.
On September 11, 2001, she boarded an airplane with her parents expecting to travel to California.
She never came home.
Her father's final calls became part of the historical record, but behind those calls was something much more personal: a family trying to survive an unimaginable moment.
Today, the little Peter Rabbit that Christine loved serves as a quiet reminder of the child behind the tragedy.
It reminds us that Christine was not born to be a symbol.
She was simply a little girl who was loved.
And perhaps the most meaningful way to remember her is to remember exactly that. ❤️
Christine Lee Hanson was more than the youngest child killed on 9/11. She was a daughter, a granddaughter, and a little girl with an entire life ahead of her. Her family’s memories ensure that she will never become just another name in history.
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