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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteThe widow in this story is Julie Sweeney Roth. Her husband, Brian Sweeney, was a passenger aboard United Flight 175 and left her a voicemail from the plane before it crashed into the World Trade Center’s South Tower on September 11, 2001, according to CBS News and HISTORY.
Who were Brian and Julie Sweeney?
Brian Sweeney was a former Navy pilot and instructor who later worked for a defense contractor, CBS News reported. On September 11, 2001, he was traveling aboard United Flight 175. His wife, Julie, was teaching when her mother-in-law told her that Brian was on a hijacked flight. She found his message on their answering machine after she returned home, CBS reported.
What did Brian say in the voicemail?
According to the excerpt CBS News reproduced from the message, Brian said:
“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.”
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The message tells Julie that the plane had been hijacked, expresses Brian’s love, and urges her to live well and enjoy life. It was left by seat-back phone, CBS reported. HISTORY also published a transcript, rendering the opening name as “Bryan”; the quotation above follows CBS News’s version.
How Julie remembers hearing it
Julie said she was thankful for the message and that Brian’s calm voice soothed her. In an interview for a 9/11 Memorial & Museum video, as quoted by CBS News, she recalled: “When I got it, it was just so Brian. 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. The calmness in his voice soothed me… And it’s very powerful. He made very powerful statements with that message.” CBS reported that the museum preserves the voicemail in its collection.
Why the recording remains part of the 9/11 story
HISTORY places Brian’s message among the final calls and recordings from September 11. Author Garrett Graff, whose book The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 draws on first-person accounts, told HISTORY: “What you hear in the recordings from that day is the confusion of people who don’t yet know they are living through a world-changing, historic event.” Brian’s voicemail is one person’s account; it should not be taken to represent every victim’s experience.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Brian Sweeney’s voicemail is not the Saracini story
Another 9/11 account sometimes associated with a widow’s final contact concerns Ellen Saracini and her husband, Victor. Victor was the pilot of Flight 175; CBS Chicago reported that Ellen spoke with him that morning and that their parting words were “I love you.” That was a spoken conversation, not the voicemail Brian left Julie. The two stories involve different people and different forms of last contact.
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Sources
- Caitlin O’Kane, CBS News: “Brian Sweeney’s voicemail to his wife gets shared on 9/11 every year. Here’s who he was.” Updated September 11, 2023.
- Dave Roos, HISTORY: “How Final Calls From 9/11 Became a Record of the Tragedy.” Published/updated September 8, 2026.
- CBS Chicago: “9/11 Widow Recalls Last Words With Pilot Husband: ‘I Love You’.” September 11, 2013.
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