John Moran—Battalion Chief Moran. His FR nick was “BCM”.
He is listed on the Freeper Memorial Wall—check FR’s homepage-it’s the purple bar near the bottom. Tributes and homepages of those who have passed on are on the Freeper Memorial Wall. Barbara Olsen’s is there as well—our own “BKO”.
She was a gem.
Thank You. I remember BKO (i was a lurker at the time) but his name I didn’t know. :^)
I was just beginning work and someone mentioned that the radio had a report about a small plane hitting the World Trade Center. I told those there—get on FreeRepublic.com we’ll get the story—and sure enough there was the historical thread, just beginning.
We all went to the lobby where there was a TV and watched the second plane hit and then the towers falling.
I would find out later that one friend, Bruce Van Hine, Truck 43,a NYFD firefighter, died in one of those collapses. His shift had ended, but he and his crew got on their truck and went to the WTC. Another senior couple I knew, Don and Jean Peterson, were passengers on Flight 93-they arrived at the airport early and the ticket agent told them there was an earlier flight to San Fran than the one they had tickets for. They were going to see their kids and grandkids.
They found Bruce’s remains when the took away that long ramp that was left to get into the ruins. All those anniversaries, and people were walking on top of him all of the time. The found Don Peterson’s bible—the one he used to counsel the alcoholics at America’s Keswick in Whiting, NJ—and nothing else. To his family, that was like a sign from above.
All three were fine, dedicated Christians, always in service to their fellow man. I miss them, but I know they were ushered into the presence of their Lord that day, and someday, I will see them again.