‘MUM IS SO MISSED'

Sydneysider Yvonne was on holiday when her plane was hijacked by terrorists

- Emma Babbington.

Simon Kennedy is certain that his mum Yvonne would have been doing all she could to comfort her fellow passengers on Flight 77, on its way from Washington to LA.

“She would have been holding someone’s hand or doing something to help on the plane as it went down,” he tells Woman’s Day.

“She was always helping people. That was her life.”

Yvonne Kennedy was 62 and on the trip of a lifetime to Canada and the US when she died on the American Airlines flight hijacked by terrorists on September 11, 2001, and crashed into the Pentagon.

Having recently retired from a 25-year long career with the Red Cross, adventurous Yvonne, who hailed from western Sydney, was set to travel to LA and Hawaii before heading home a few days later.

“I used to think that being an Australian 9/11 family member was such an unusual thing, being there were only 10,” says Simon. “But just because we don’t salute the Stars and Stripes, doesn’t mean we didn’t go through the same pain.”

And losing his beloved mum in such a terrible way is a pain Simon has worn for two decades. But Yvonne’s big personality has ensured she remains vivid in his memories.