Huey pilot takes on personal mission to carry names of 9/11 victims across US communities

An Air Force captain who was inside the Pentagon daycare during the Sept. 11 attacks is remembering the victims one mile at a time.

Capt. Hanna Born, 27, was just a toddler a few weeks shy of her third birthday on that Tuesday morning in 2001. Born and her infant sister were safely evacuated from the Pentagon daycare after American Airlines Flight 77 struck the building. The daughters of two now-retired military officers, the Born sisters were too young to understand the gravity of that day at the time, but growing up in a military family ultimately inspired “the same calling to want to do something more with our lives” and played a large role in shaping both sisters’ decisions to serve.

“My mom [a retired Air Force brigadier general] decided to stay on active-duty following 9/11 because she felt called to continue serving, and that led to my little sister and me having the opportunity to grow up around a military community throughout our most formative years,” Born said. Her younger sister, Heather, is now a Marine officer. “Being shaped by that community, going to school with people whose whole families were committed to service … just seeing the way people came together to support one another, and the way people were devoting their lives and their families’ lives to a greater purpose, was inspiring for both my sister and me.”

Based at Fort Rucker, Alabama, Born is now an instructor pilot with the 23rd Flying Training Squadron. Her path to becoming a helicopter pilot began “not because I was super interested in aviation initially, but rather because I was drawn to the rescue mission because of our experience that [9/11] day.” At the time of our interview, she was just getting home from overnight flight training, and shared that she wears a “Never Forget” patch on her flight helmet. Its symbolism is just as much for her as it is about starting a conversation with her younger students.

“I had the realization that I’m probably one of the youngest people who will ever have memories from 9/11, and that the responsibility of passing that oral history on now lives with my generation as we continue to honor our promise to never forget,” she said.

Last year, that sense of responsibility came together as the “Run to Remember 2,977” campaign, an initiative to run 2,977 miles, one for each person who lost their life on Sept. 11. Born documents her runs with videos posted to her Instagram account @runtoremember2977, and recites the victims’ names aloud with each mile, sharing who every mile is dedicated to that day. The personal mission has evolved far beyond the mileage to include community engagements, partnerships with others sharing similar missions, and even connections to loved ones of the fallen.

“It’s allowed me to connect even more with family members than I ever would have expected, which has been one of the most incredible and meaningful parts of this effort … just getting to learn more about the people I’m running for and the lives they lived through the people who are still here and remember them,” she said.

As the nation pauses to mark the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks this year, Born will be participating in a challenge unlike anything she has completed to date: running 34.3 miles from Long Beach, New York, into Ground Zero with members of the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY). The event will honor the 343 FDNY members killed in the line of duty on Sept. 11, 2001.

“I’ve never run anything longer than a marathon before … so having a physical challenge tied to a purpose so much bigger than myself is something that continues to motivate me to get out the door every day. I want to be able t0 show up to do this for those who can’t,” Born added.

Follow Capt. Hanna Born on Instagram to learn more about her journey to never forget.