September 11, 2001, is a day defined by scale. We talk about the thousands of lives lost, the massive structural failure of the towers, and the geopolitical shifts that followed. But when you zoom in, the math gets harder to stomach. Among the nearly 3,000 people who died that morning, eight of them were just children. They weren't soldiers, they weren't office workers, and they certainly weren't part of any political struggle. They were just kids on airplanes. Honestly, talking about the 9 11 youngest victims is a different kind of heavy. It’s not just about the loss of life; it’s about the loss of potential—the birthdays, graduations, and first jobs that simply never happened.
Most people can name the major figures of that day, but the names of the children often slip through the cracks of history. These eight kids ranged in age from just two to eleven years old. They were spread across three of the hijacked flights: United 175, American 77, and United 93.
The youngest of them all: Christine Lee Hanson
Christine Lee Hanson was only two.
Let that sink in for a second. Two years old. She was traveling on United Airlines Flight 175 with her parents, Peter and Sue Kim Hanson. They were heading to Disneyland. It’s a trip thousands of families take every year, a rite of passage filled with Mickey Mouse ears and overpriced snacks. For Christine, it was supposed to be her first big adventure. Peter Hanson actually managed to call his father, Lee, from the plane. He described the hijackers’ behavior and the chaos in the cabin. In those final moments, he wasn't thinking about global politics. He was a dad trying to protect his little girl.
Christine remains the youngest person to die in the attacks. When you visit the National September 11 Memorial in New York, her name is etched into the bronze parapets of the South Pool. People often leave flowers there, or sometimes small toys. It’s a stark, visceral reminder that the violence of that day didn’t discriminate by age.
The kids on American Airlines Flight 77
While Christine was on the flight that hit the South Tower, three other children were aboard American Airlines Flight 77, which was steered into the Pentagon. These kids weren't on vacation; they were part of an educational trip.
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Bernard Curtis Brown II was 11. He was a student at Leckie Elementary School in Washington, D.C. His father actually worked at the Pentagon. On any other day, Bernard might have been safe at school, but he had been selected for a National Geographic Society trip to the Channel Islands Marine Sanctuary in California. There is a haunting layer of irony here: his father was at the Pentagon when the plane Bernard was on struck the building. His father survived, but Bernard did not.
Then there was Asia Cottom, also 11. She was a sixth-grader at Backus Middle School. Her teachers remembered her as a "science whiz" who loved math. She had this bright future ahead of her, the kind of kid who likely would have gone on to do something incredible in STEM before that was even a common acronym.
Rodney Dickens, another 11-year-old from the same school group, was also on that flight. He was an honor roll student. He loved reading and was known for being a kind, quiet kid. These three weren't just names on a manifest; they were the pride of their D.C. neighborhood. Their loss gutted a local school system and left a void in a community that was already struggling with so much.
Why the 9 11 youngest victims matter in our memory
It’s easy to get lost in the "why" of 9/11—the radicalization, the security failures, the intelligence gaps. But focusing on the 9 11 youngest victims forces us to look at the "who."
When we look at the logistics of the day, we see a massive failure of systems. But when we look at Dana Falkenberg, who was only three years old, we see the human cost. Dana was traveling on Flight 77 with her parents, Charles Falkenberg and Leslie Whittington, and her older sister, Zoe, who was eight. The whole family was wiped out. They were moving to Australia for Leslie’s work as a professor at Georgetown. They were starting a new life.
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Zoe was a top student and a swimmer. She was the kind of kid who had a million questions about the world. To think about an entire family unit being erased in an instant is almost too much to process, but it’s necessary to understand the total weight of that morning.
The final names: United 93 and the empty seats
On United Flight 93, the plane that crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, there were no children. It’s often forgotten that the "youngest" victims weren't just on the planes that hit the buildings. However, some people mistakenly think kids were on every flight. They weren't. But the presence of David Gamboa-Brandhorst, who was three, on United 175 along with his parents, Daniel Brandhorst and Ronald Gamboa, rounds out the list of the very young.
David was adopted. His parents were founding members of a local charity. They were heading home to Los Angeles. Like Christine, David was just beginning to see the world.
The complexity of memorializing children
There is a specific kind of grief associated with children who die in national tragedies. It’s a collective mourning. In the years following the attacks, various scholarships and foundations were set up in the names of these kids. The Asia Cottom Memorial Scholarship Fund, for instance, helps other students reach for the dreams she never got to realize.
But memorializing them is tricky. We don't want to turn them into symbols. They were real kids who liked cartoons, played with Legos, and got nervous about the first day of school.
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What most people get wrong about the casualties
A common misconception is that many children died in the towers themselves. While thousands of people were in the World Trade Center complex, there were no daycares in the Twin Towers on 9/11. A daycare center had existed there previously, but it had moved. This is why the child casualties were almost entirely limited to the hijacked aircraft.
If there had been a school or a large-scale childcare facility in the buildings, the death toll for children would have been exponentially higher. It’s a small, grim mercy in an otherwise horrific event.
Acknowledging the "Invisible" Young Victims
While we focus on the eight children who died on the planes, we also have to think about the health impacts on the kids who survived the day but lived in Lower Manhattan. Thousands of children were in schools like Stuyvesant High School, just blocks away. They breathed in the dust. They saw things no child should see.
Studies by the World Trade Center Health Program have shown that the "youngest victims" of 9/11 also include those who developed respiratory issues or chronic PTSD from the aftermath. The trauma didn't end when the planes hit; for many kids in New York and D.C., it was just starting.
Moving forward with intention
Remembering the 9 11 youngest victims isn't about wallowing in sadness. It’s about ensuring that the human element of history isn't buried under statistics.
If you want to honor their memory in a way that actually matters, here are a few things you can do:
- Support Youth Education Funds: Many of the families of the young victims set up memorial funds. Donating to the Asia Cottom Memorial Scholarship Fund or similar local charities in D.C. and New York directly supports the types of dreams these children had.
- Visit the Memorial with Context: If you go to the 9/11 Memorial in NYC, don't just look at the water. Find the names: Christine Lee Hanson, David Gamboa-Brandhorst, and the others. Recognize that they represent the ultimate innocence lost that day.
- Educate the Next Generation: Most kids in school today weren't even alive in 2001. When teaching them about 9/11, use these stories to move beyond "war" and "terror" and into the realm of empathy and human value.
- Check the Facts: Avoid the sensationalized "conspiracy" videos that often use children’s names for shock value. Stick to the archives of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum and official flight manifests to keep the history accurate.
The story of 9/11 is still being written in the health reports of survivors and the legacies of those who died. By keeping the names of the youngest victims at the forefront, we keep the history human. It’s the least we can do for the kids who never got to grow up.