justin was i don t know the one thing i ll remember most about him. just everything. he drove me to be better when i was struggling he lifted me up. when he was struggling i lifted him up. it was sort of a give and take relationship. we both i mean i can t even i can t even begin to describe the one thing. just the person he was can t be narrowed down to one specific time or characteristic. yeah. well guys we hear your pain. and we re so sorry for your loss. and thanks so much for sharing the pictures and taking the time to tell us about this extraordinary young man. take care of yourselves. thank you, ma am. thank you, ma am. all right. let s go back now to chris who s in philadelphia with all the developments on this crash. hi chris. and it is good to hear the
our son was midship justin zemser. he was born on march 25th 1995. he was his high school valedictorian and was just finishing up his second year as midshipman at the united states naval academy. he was a loving son, nephew and cousin. well that was susan zemser the mother of 20-year-old naval academy midshipman justin zemser who is among the seven people killed in tuesday s amtrak train derailment. we are joined this morning by justin s close friends, his teammate and his roommate brandon teal. guys thanks so much for being on new day. we re so sorry for your loss. thank you, ma am. absolutely. we know that you called your friend justin z in honor of his last name. we want to talk about z this
morning with you. devin i want to start with you because we understand all of the midshipman were called in to a meeting to get the news of z s death. can you tell us about that moment? yes. we were all together for a brief. and we were all sitting together and the brief was delayed rather for about 45 minutes. and we started looking around because it s not typical in the military. and we decided or we noticed that when the come daunt came on and said justin had passed it kind of took us all back and we were all in shock for a little bit. of course. of course you were. brandon, you were his roommate. i have to tell you, the more i read about z the more impressive he is. i mean he sounds really extraordinary. he was the valedictorian of his high school he was the class president in high school he was the captain of his football team he wanted to be a navy s.e.a.l. it sounds like not just you his
defending their actions claiming they knew they had a long day ahead of them and would not get a chance to eat. their boss says during a military transport the hearse cannot make stops. double parked as well. i am sensing that s a lapse of judgment that they will feel terrible for. correct. for a while. that s one of those things. insensitivity. everybody understands needing coffee but the insensitivity. absolutely. we hope you ll stick around for this because one of the victims of the derailment was a 20-year-old naval academy midshipman named justin zemser and by all accounts an extraordinary young man. two of his best friends tell us why next.