BC John Moran, 43, was a 22-year FDNY veteran with a law degree from Fordham University. He was destined for the job. Moran’s father, brother, uncle and cousins were all firefighters. His cousin, a congressman from Long Island, described Moran as “6 foot 2 inches and 250 pounds, a Viking Irishman who has calves thicker than my thighs, the heart of lion and touch of a teddy bear.”
Moran, of Battalion 49, had just finished his 24-hour shift at the Special Operations command on Roosevelt Island when the WTC call came in. He rode in with Chief Ray Downey and they watched the second plane hit as they crossed the Queensborough Bridge.
In his free time (and at all family reunions), Moran played the piano and guitar and loved to sing Irish songs. He usually rode in an annual bike tour in Iowa popular among police and firefighters. Like many others, Moran had been injured in the Father’s Day fire when the building exploded.
Moran had met wife on 9/11/90 outside Ladder Company 4. He left behind two young sons, 7 and 4. He had only begun to teach them to kayak.