A Son’s Reflection: Remembering a Father Lost on 9/11

By Charlie Greene
Mr. Greene is the son of Donald F. Greene, who died on Sept. 11 aboard United Airlines Flight 93.

When I was 10 years old, a significant trauma entered my life quietly. It happened through the voice of my pediatrician. I was absent from school that day, nursing a toe infection. In the exam room, the doctor informed my mother and me that a plane had struck the World Trade Center in New York City.

At that age, the world seemed small and immediate. Just a week before, we had celebrated Labor Day weekend at my grandfather’s home situated by Candlewood Lake in Connecticut. The weekend was filled with sailing, cooking, and the pleasant feeling of an ordinary family weekend.

That morning in the doctor’s office, I failed to connect the news to my father’s departure. Earlier that day, he had kissed us goodbye at our home in Greenwich. He then drove to Newark Airport to board a morning flight to San Francisco to visit his brothers. His frequent travel for work in aviation made his departure feel routine. Yet, oddly, the night before, I asked him to wake me to say goodbye — a request that left my mother astonished in hindsight.

When we got home from the doctor’s office, we saw the smoke rising from the twin towers and the Pentagon on CNN. My mother turned to me, unforgettable grief in her eyes, and revealed that my father’s plane had lost contact.

My father, Donald Greene, was aboard United Airlines Flight 93 on September 11, 2001. Unlike the flights that struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Flight 93 did not reach its intended target. The passengers and crew, knowing terrorists had redirected the plane towards Washington, fought back. During their attempt to regain control, the plane crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Their brave act of preventing a larger disaster came at the cost of their lives.

Over the past twenty-five years, our family has honored their memory through visits to that solemn rural field.