The Hanson Family’s Journey to Disneyland That Never Reached California — See More

For the Hanson family, September 11, 2001, was supposed to be the beginning of a happy family adventure.

Peter Hanson, his wife Sue Kim Hanson, and their little daughter Christine were traveling from Massachusetts to California. They were looking forward to visiting Sue Kim’s relatives, many of whom had not yet had the opportunity to meet little Christine. There was another special destination waiting for the two-and-a-half-year-old girl: Disneyland.

Instead, their journey became one of the most heartbreaking stories connected to the September 11 attacks.

Peter, Sue Kim, and Christine boarded United Airlines Flight 175 at Boston’s Logan International Airport. The flight was bound for Los Angeles. According to the 9/11 Memorial, it was Christine’s first time traveling by airplane. She was just two and a half years old, and she would ultimately become the youngest of the eight children killed aboard the aircraft involved in the attacks.

The details surrounding the trip make the story especially painful because it was filled with ordinary family excitement.

Christine was not simply a passenger. She was a little girl traveling with her parents toward relatives she was expected to meet and a magical place she was excited to see. Her family had plans, hopes, and a future stretching ahead of them.

Peter was a successful professional who worked in the software industry. Sue Kim had an impressive academic background and was pursuing advanced studies in the medical sciences at Boston University. Together, they had created a young family life in Groton, Massachusetts.

Those who knew them remembered a family that enjoyed spending time together.

Christine especially loved being outdoors with her father. Family accounts describe her helping Peter in the garden and showing an affectionate personality. One remembered saying attributed to her was that a plant or tree might be thirsty and needed to be given something to drink and a hug.

That small detail says something profound about how she was remembered: not through the tragedy that ended her life, but through the innocent personality she had before the world knew her name.

Sue Kim’s connection to California was also deeply meaningful. She had been born in Pasadena and had spent part of her childhood in Korea before returning to Los Angeles. Her grandmother, Ok Kim, had played an important role in raising her after Sue Kim experienced the loss of her parents. The upcoming California visit therefore represented much more than a vacation. It was a return to family and a chance to introduce Christine to relatives who had been waiting to meet her.

Then came the morning of September 11.

Flight 175 was hijacked after leaving Boston. Peter was able to make telephone calls to his father, Lee Hanson, informing him that the aircraft had been taken over. The family on the ground quickly realized that something terrible was happening. In an interview later preserved by StoryCorps, Lee described receiving a call from his son and hearing Peter explain that the plane had been hijacked.

Peter called again.

He told his father that he believed the hijackers might crash the airplane into a building. His family was watching television as the unprecedented events unfolded.

Then the call ended.

Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. Peter, Sue Kim, and Christine were among those killed.

For the Hanson family, the tragedy was not an abstract historical event. It was the sudden disappearance of a son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter.

Lee and Eunice Hanson later spoke publicly about their grief and about the family they lost. Their memories provide a window into who Peter, Sue Kim, and Christine were before September 11 transformed their lives into part of American history.

Christine’s age has made her story particularly poignant. She was only two and a half years old. She had barely begun experiencing the world. She had no opportunity to grow up, attend school, discover her interests, make friends as an adult, or create a family of her own.

She never saw Disneyland.

She never met the relatives waiting for her in California.

She never got to take the ordinary first steps of childhood that her parents undoubtedly expected to watch.

But the passage of time has not erased her memory.

The National September 11 Memorial and Museum has preserved objects connected to Christine’s short life, including a beloved stuffed Peter Rabbit. The decision to display such a personal childhood object is a reminder that behind the enormous numbers associated with September 11 were individual human beings with favorite toys, family traditions, personalities, dreams, and people who loved them.

The Hanson family’s story is therefore more than a story about a plane.

It is a story about plans interrupted.

It is about a mother returning to California to see relatives. It is about a father traveling for business while combining the trip with family time. It is about a toddler experiencing her first airplane journey. It is about grandparents expecting to see their son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter.

And it is about how quickly an ordinary morning can become part of history.

Today, more than two decades later, the Hanson family continues to be remembered through memorials, family stories, photographs, and the recollections of people who knew them.

The tragedy of September 11 is often described through buildings, airplanes, dates, and numbers. Yet remembering families such as the Hansons brings the story back to its most human level.

Peter was someone’s son.

Sue Kim was someone’s granddaughter and daughter.

Christine was someone’s little girl.

They were a family with a destination, a vacation planned, relatives waiting, and a toddler who was supposed to experience the excitement of Disneyland.

Their journey never reached California.

But their story endured.

And every time Christine’s name is remembered, the world is reminded that September 11 was not only a moment of history. It was the loss of thousands of individual lives, each carrying a story that was still being written.

The Hanson family had a future they expected to live.

They were simply on their way there.