Sister of 9/11 'Falling Man' reveals truth about iconic photo and their last family holiday together a week before the attack
Gwen Briley-Strand, 72, has spoken about her brother Jonathan Briley who perished in the 9/11 terror attacks and is believed to be the 'Falling Man'
WARNING: Article contains distressing content
The sister of the man pictured falling to his death from the World Trade Center on 9/11 has spoken about the infamous photo 25 years after the tragedy.
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Gwen Briley-Strand, 72, told how she and her brother Jonathan Briley, 43, thought to be the man pictured enjoyed one last trip together shortly before his death in the 2001 terrorist attack.
The infamous picture became an iconic symbol of the tragedy of 9/11, when 2,977 people were killed by al-Qaeda terrorists.
The picture came to symbolise all the victims who died that day and whose final moments were never known.
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Years after the attack, Esquire magazine’s Tom Junod revealed that Jonathan was most likely the man seen falling to his death.
Jonathan was a sound engineer at Windows on the World restaurant on the 106th and 107th floors of the North Tower.
His height and build matched the man and in another frame the man's shirt was seen blowing open to reveal a distinctive orange t-shirt underneath.
His sister Gwen told the Daily Mail that her family had been “very hurt” when Jonathan was suspected to be the man in the photo, but that she had never “fixated” on whether it was him.
Revealing that she doesn't look at the photo anymore, she said: “The photograph brought so much pain to so many people when they were trying to figure out who this person was.
“I remember hearing about a family who were deeply religious and, with Catholicism, this man that jumped, that’s suicide and that’s the unforgivable sin.”
But Gwen said: “I don’t believe in an unforgivable sin. God is too benevolent. He’s too wonderful. I think the only unforgivable sin is not to believe in Him.
“I believe that all those individuals that jumped were caught. Their spirits were caught.”
Gwen said that the week before 9/11 she had taken a trip to Florida with her husband and Jonathan.
Describing it as "a gift of God”, she said: “We were right there on the ocean and we would get up and have Kahlua and coffee and watch the sunrise. It was really special because he decided to join us at the last minute.”
A quarter of a century on from the tragedy, Gwen said she watches the anniversary coverage every year.
She said: “There are times when it feels like 25 years but, then again, there are times when it feels like yesterday.”
In the end, Gwen said the identity of “Falling man” didn’t really matter. Instead, “he was a representative of all of those almost 3,000 people that had to go through that horrific day of September 11”.