There are countless heartbreaking stories, final goodbyes, and acts of courage that emerged from September 11.
A visit to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in New York brings many of those stories to life — and I can promise you, it’s an experience you won’t walk away from untouched.
2026 marks 25 years since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It was a day that forever changed America. Nearly 3,000 people were killed, and the country was left to grapple with an unimaginable loss that continues to echo a quarter-century later.
For 25 years, the words “never forget” have carried a deeply personal meaning for the families, survivors, first responders and countless Americans whose lives were changed that day.
And every September 11, one voicemail from a husband to his wife brings the unimaginable pain of that morning back into focus.
Brian Sweeney was a passenger aboard United Flight 175 when the plane was hijacked on September 11, 2001. Before it crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center, he used a seat-back phone to leave a message for his wife, Julie Roth.
Julie was teaching that morning when she was called away from her classroom. Her mother-in-law was on the other end, telling her that Brian was aboard a hijacked plane.
The Stories They Tell- Voicemail from Flight 175
When Julie eventually returned home, she found the message waiting for her.
“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,” he said.
Those became the final words Julie would ever hear from her husband. Sweeney was 38 when he died, and Roth was 29.
His final message was more than a goodbye. It was a glimpse of the man Brian was before that terrible morning. To those who knew him, Sweeney was the definition of strength and courage. A former U.S. Navy pilot and Gulf War veteran, he was remembered by his wife, Julie, as someone who seemed almost untouchable — “invincible in my eyes and everybody else that knew him.”
The couple had met at a bar in Philadelphia. Julie later recalled seeing Brian standing apart from the men in suits, wearing a cap and denim shirt. She turned to a friend and said, “that’s the kind of guy [she] would marry.”
At 6’3″, Brian was hard to miss. Julie described him as “a force to be reckoned with.”
They eventually married on Cape Cod and made their home there. Brian later worked for a defense contractor, a job that allowed him to spend much of his time working from home.
Although Sweeney was often remembered as a “warrior,” his wife, Julie, also saw a deeply caring and affectionate side of him. He was “the kind of person you wanted to hug,” she said. Even in his final message, Sweeney focused on offering love and reassurance to the people who meant the most to him.
“I embraced his message with all that I had, and I am living life as I know he would want me to do,” Roth says.
More than two decades later, Julie has remarried and has two children. According to CBS News, she has also remained connected to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, volunteering there and helping preserve the stories of those who were lost.
Brian’s final voicemail is a part of the museum’s collection.
Julie has said the recording gave her something she could never have gotten any other way: certainty about what Brian wanted her to know in his final moments.
Julie Sweeney Roth, whose husband Brian Sweeney died when United Airlines flight 175 hit the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, touches his name at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum on September 11, 2021 in New York City / Craig Ruttle-Pool/Getty Images
“I’m thankful for it. So thankful for that message. Because at least I know, without a shadow of a doubt, what he was thinking.”
She also remembered the calmness in his voice, saying it soothed her.
“Brian’s words definitely gave me the courage to move forward, but it doesn’t mean we can forget our past. It’s what got us all here today. The memories will always be a part of us, and they continue to be a source of inspiration and solace for me and anybody that experienced loss on that day,” Julie said.
