Brian Sweeney: 911 Passenger Left Haunting Voicemail to Wife

Brian Sweeney was a former pilot and instructor in the United States Navy who died on September 11, 2001, on the airplane that terrorists flew into one of the World Trade Center buildings.

Sweeney, calling from hijacked flight 175, left a last haunting message on his wife’s voicemail. You can listen to it below.

He was one of the 2,996 people who lost their lives on September 11, 2001, in the terrorist attacks.

Here’s what you need to know:

In His Final Voicemail, Brian Told His Wife, ‘I Just Totally Love You,’ & ‘I Want You to Do Good’

According to the 911 memorial page, Brian’s wife Julie Sweeney Roth returned home after getting news of the attacks and found the voicemail message from Brian who called using an Airfone from Flight 175.

Video that captures the voicemail shows he told 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 and 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. By Babe! I hope I call you.

She told the memorial page, “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.”

The memorial page says Julie now is remarried with two children. “Brian’s poignant message is now a part of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum’s collection,” that page says.

Brian’s Wife Received the Awful News While Teaching a High School Class

According to 911Memorial.org, Julie Sweeney Roth knew instantly that she liked Brian, telling a friend “that’s the kind of guy [she] would marry.” They married on Cape Cod seven months after meeting.

Sweeney was a former pilot and United State Navy instructor who was working for a defense contractor. His wife was a teacher, the site says.

According to the memorial site, when the terrorist attacks occurred, Julie was teaching a high school class. Brian’s mom Louise called and told her that Brian was a passenger on Flight 175, which was hijacked by terrorists and flown into the World Trade Center’s South Tower, killing all aboard.

Julie Sweeney Roth told WGN-TV in a story that ran on the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, about her husband’s comments, “With that, it’s a general statement, but there is this line between good and not good, and I’ve tried to do what I can to be a good human and a good person in this world.”

She told WGN that she focuses on Brian’s statement that “I’ll see you when you get there.” She has faith in an after life and that she will see him again.

She volunteers at the 9/11 memorial. “Even if I affect one person on the day I’m there, that makes the difference. And that’s all you can do as an individual,” she said, adding of Brian’s mom, “In retrospect as a mom now, I can’t even imagine the pain that she goes through on a daily basis still.”

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