“Bye, Babe. I Hope I Call You.”

September 11, 2020  – Those are the last words of a voice mail message to his wife from a man who was certain he would not survive his early morning ordeal on United Air Lines Flight 175 that September 11, 2001.

Brian Sweeney a 38-year-old veteran U.S. Navy pilot and instuctor was a warrior and surely knew what he was facing:

Jules, this is Brian listen, I’m on an airplane that’s been hijacked.

If things don’t go well, and it’s not looking good, I just want you to know I absolutely love you, I want you to do good, go have good times, same to my parents and everybody, and I just totally love you, and I’ll see you when you get there. Bye, babe. I hope I call you.

The full recording of his message to his wife, Julie, is among the most heartrending moments recorded on that day and preserved in the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in lower Manhattan.

Now remarried, Julie Sweeney Roth has contributed a video prepared for the Museum:  “All I needed was that message, and I think he very selflessly left it. I don’t think he left it until he knew he wasn’t coming home.” She said, “He was a warrior, and you just didn’t believe that something like this could take him away.”

After leaving that message for his wife, Brian phoned his mother at 9:00 a.m. Three minutes later Flight 175 smashed into the South Tower.

When you plan your vacations within the United States, add to your list of ‘must visits’ the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in Lower Manhattan. It is indeed sacred ground in U.S. History.

~~Graphic: 9/11 Spirit of America Memorial