On September 11th, 2001, at just after 9:30 a.m., Hanna Born and her younger sister, Heather, were toddlers playing in the Pentagon Child Development Center. Simultaneously, American Airlines Flight 77 had been diverted from its destination to Los Angeles by hijackers to strike the Pentagon. No one on board the plane survived, and 125 people inside the building also lost their lives.
The sisters were both miraculously rescued, and there’s not a single day they don’t take that for granted. Now, 25 years later, they both serve in the U.S. military. Hanna is an instructor pilot in the U.S. Air Force, and Heather serves in the U.S. Marine Corps. Both sisters are committed to giving back to the country they love.
Run to remember
In 2025, Captain Hanna Born began the non-profit Run to Remember 2977. As stated on their site, it’s “a year-long journey to run 2,977 miles, one for each life lost on 9/11.” People (including her sister) join her along the way for her run, but what remains constant is her steadfast dedication to remembering not just a “number,” but actual people. To that end, she says each person’s name out loud, so that their legacy will continue.
Upworthy had the true honor of speaking with Hanna about her experience inside the Pentagon on that fateful day and her journey to making sure every life lost is remembered.
‘How can we help?’
She describes the morning. “I was almost three years old, and she was just four months old. Thanks to selfless service members and others working on site that day, we (along with the other children in the daycare) were safely evacuated. My dad asked our daycare workers a few days after 9/11 how they managed to get so many kids to safety, and they responded that nearly as soon as Flight 77 hit the building, service members showed up at the CDC doors asking, ‘How can we help?’”
The “sensory overload,” she shares, was understandably immense. “For infants like my sister, they loaded a few of them into cribs and carried them about half of a mile to a spot that was set up near Boundary Channel. For toddlers like me, they held our hands or carried us to the same spot. The cribs were set up in a circle, and the daycare workers sat inside that perimeter with us toddlers, comforting us until our parents could arrive. The theme of the memories I have from that day is overwhelming confusion, even more than fear, and sensory overload, struggling to process everything that was happening around me.”
Military family
Both of their parents were in the military. “My mom was working as the 11th Mission Support Squadron Commander at Bolling Air Force Base at the time, so her unit was tasked with many immediate responsibilities that day. My dad had recently retired from the USMC and was working in Alexandria, VA, so he was able to find my sister and me and evacuate us from the city. As a three-year-old, I demonstrated immediate classic signs of childhood regression triggered by the trauma that I had witnessed, beginning with sleeping more than 24 hours that first night after the attacks.”
Hanna shares how her family has set the bar for honoring and defending others. “My parents have always conveyed to my sister and me how fortunate our family was that day, and in the years since, and how many families were not blessed with the same outcome as ours. They’ve set an example by living their lives in a way that honors those we’ve lost and the families so deeply impacted by the sacrifice of their loved ones, and, in doing so, they have inspired my sister and me to want to do the same.”
Calling to serve
The day changed the course of their lives and influenced Hanna and Heather’s decision to serve in the military. “My parents originally planned to raise my sister and me in the DC area; however, after 9/11, my mom felt called to continue serving on active duty. In 2002, she received permanent change-of-station orders to the U.S. Air Force Academy, where she served for the next eleven years, eventually retiring after serving thirty years in the United States Air Force. This decision to continue serving was instrumental in my sister and me having the opportunity to spend the majority of our childhood growing up in a military community surrounded by other families who made the same decision.
Both the experience of being evacuated from the daycare center on 9/11 and the opportunity to grow up in a military community surrounded by families who continued to serve and sacrifice played a large part in my sister’s and my decision to serve in the military. For me, learning more about the events of that day and so many unsung heroes who went back to help created a strong interest in contributing to the rescue mission, which inspired me to become an Air Force helicopter pilot.”
Saying their names
As for Hanna’s Run to Remember 2977 effort, she shares that it has moved her in unexpected ways. “It started as a personal goal, something I wanted to do as a tribute to the people and the families who did not have the same outcome as mine that day. I decided to share it on social media in hopes that some of the family members may find a post with their loved one’s name spoken aloud by a stranger and feel a little less alone, or that the younger generation on social media would see posts about this day and learn more about both the human impact of the day and how many lives are still affected by the loss of their loved ones.”
She has been so overwhelmed by the response. “The response to this effort has surpassed anything I could have ever imagined, and having the chance to connect with so many families and friends to learn about the loved ones they’ve lost has been one of the most meaningful and heartwarming experiences of my life. Hearing these stories in their words has given me an even deeper appreciation of how much these families and the nation lost that day, and an understanding of the remarkable strength and resilience that so many families have lived with for 25 years after losing a loved one.”
She shares, “Words cannot express how much it means to have so many people reach out to share and trust me with stories of their loved ones. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to learn about the people I am running for from those who knew and loved them best, and I’m incredibly grateful for the chance to continue learning more about them throughout what I hope will be lifelong friendships with the people I’ve met.”
