Betty Ong

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Betty Ann Ong

Betty Ann Ong (5 February 1956 – 11 September 2001), born in San Francisco to Harry Ong Senior and Yee-gum Oy. She was a Chinese American flight attendant on board American Airlines Flight 11 when it was flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack.

Ong grew up in San Francisco's Chinatown and graduated from George Washington High School. As well-respected community members, her family owned a grocery store on Jackson Street. Betty Ong was the youngest of her surviving siblings: sisters, Cathie Ong Herrera, Gloria Ong Woo and brother Harry Ong.

Her efforts on September 11 involved relaying information about the hijacking on board by telephone to the American Airlines operations center on the ground. Ong relayed the numbers of the seats in which the hijackers had been sitting and provided other information about the progress of the hijacking during her 23-minute call.

Her remains were later recovered from the wreckage of the World Trade Center.

On September 21, 2004, some 200 members of the Chinese American community in San Francisco, gathered in a small park to pay tribute to the much loved member of their community. Mayor Willie Brown, who was present, gave a proclamation honoring the people who died in the tragedy and called September 21 "Betty Ong Day"[1].

Betty Ong was played by Jean Yoon in the ABC miniseries "The Path to 9/11".