Kenneth Watson, 39, was an ironworker for 8 years building skyscrapers in New York while he waited for a slot to open in the FDNY. His father had been a firefighter. No fan of paperwork, Watson was happy being part of the rank and file and never sought a promotion.
He loved camping and regularly went with his four kids or other firefighters. He loved the “down and dirty” of it. He also loved to hunt deer.
He and his wife became high school sweethearts at 15.
There were two Michael Edward Roberts in the FDNY, both 31, both killed on 9/11. The only time the families met was at their funerals.
His badge number (6611) had been passed through his family for years. It was first assigned to his uncle. When he retired, it went to his brother, Michael’s father. When he left the job, the badge number passed to Michael. A firefighter for almost four years, Roberts joined Engine Company 214 in March. He regularly volunteered to cover holidays so other firefighters could spend time with their families.
John Florio, 33, was very athletic and “built like a box of bricks.” He was made starting halfback the first time he tried out for the FDNY’s football team.
He kept in shape by pumped iron to Metallica. A huge fan of the band, Florio had exchanged letters with its lead singer, James Hetfield. A letter from Hetfield was read at Florio’s funeral. Although he hadn’t worked a Tuesday in almost 3 years, that week he had traded shifts to help someone out. His remains were found at the end of October.
Lt. Carl Bedigian, 35, was an electrician with the Transit Authority for a dozen years before joining the FDNY. He was assigned to Engine Company 214 which shares “The Nuthouse” with Ladder 111 in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn.
Several years earlier Bedigian had learned he was a match and donated his bone marrow to a 4-year-old boy in Europe who had leukemia, saving the boy’s life.
In the FDNY for seven years, he had to reapply and requalify after contracting a virus that attacked his spinal cord and left him temporarily paralyzed. With sheer will and determination he was walking again within weeks, but the incident heightened his appreciation for life. On 9/11, he had been married less than a year.
Capt. William O’Keefe, 48, had a 22-year career in the FDNY. He had been promoted to captain and assigned to Division 15 earlier in 2001.
A lifelong native of Staten Island, he had a “terrific sense of humor.” To relax he would practice songs on his acoustic guitar or play with this two beagles. On their annual family vacation to the Jersey shore, he loved to run along the beach at sunrise. O’Keefe passed on his love of running to his two daughters and cheered them on at their track meets.
Capt. Martin Egan, Jr., 36, joined the FDNY in 1986 when he was 21. He made Captain in May 2000. Both of his brothers followed him into the FDNY. He was assigned to Ladder 118 but was transferred to Division 15 for special training in high-rise firefighting. On 9/11, I believe he responded with L118.
Proud of his Irish heritage, Egan loved St. Patrick’s Day and every year went to at least two parades: the one on Staten Island and the big one in the city.
He bought a 90-year-old house because he loved it. Although he had almost no construction experience when he started, he thought he could learn what he needed to know along the way, and he did just that. “He wasn’t afraid to try new things,” said his wife. “He did a beautiful job, and I’ll live here forever.”
Egan left behind a son, 6, and a daughter, age 4.
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.
Kevin Smith, 47, was a former Marine who brought military discipline to everything he did. A member of Haz-Mat from its beginning in 1984, Smith was present at many major disasters. On this day, he was perhaps the very first to report the attack to HQ. He was standing on the apron smoking a cigarette with a clear view of lower Manhattan when he saw the plane fly into WTC1.
When a disaster occurred, he always called his wife so she wouldn’t hear about it first on the news. That morning he called her at 8:50 on the ride in. He sounded excited. “He almost sounded like Superman snapping at his cape,” she said.
He was the father of eight grown kids. He would often take the holiday shifts so that others with younger children could have time with their families. Of his five sons, four followed him into the military or the fire department. One was an EMT who was injured on 9/11. The entire Smith family volunteered on weekends with the East Farmingdale Fire Department, the Mastic Fire Department, and the Mastic Ambulance Company. It was a family affair.
He was last seen in the lobby of Tower One. His remains have never been found.
Dennis Scauso, 46, had flown as a commercial pilot before joining the FDNY. That morning he chauffeured the first “piece” Haz-Mat took to the WTC. They arrived 18 minutes after the first strike and parked by Rescue One on West Street.
Friends remembered him as “spirited, passionate, and generous” with a reputation for going to any length to help whoever needed it. If he found an injured animal, he would rescue it.
Scauso married the girl next door but not before they had each grown up and moved away. It was back at their parents’ homes where they met again and fell in love. Above all else, Scauso was devoted to his wife and his four children.
A few months after 9/11, his helmet was found, mangled and crushed.
Jonathan Hohmann, 48, of Haz-Mat Co. 1 was a religious man who read the Bible every day. That morning his reading was Daniel 3, a story about three men thrown into a fiery furnace. There is a fourth seen in the furnace, and the fourth is God. “We know that God was with him and took him to be with Him for eternity, and one day we will be united again,” wrote his wife.
Hohmann had 13 years with the FDNY, and left behind two teenaged sons.