FDNY's Mike Moran 'Infuriated' Over Statue Cover-up

Tue January 15 2002
Posted Jan 15, 2002
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Famed New York City firefighter Mike Moran, who thrilled a Madison Square Garden concert audience in October with a public dare to terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden, says he was "infuriated" that a statue depicting three of his FDNY comrades who raised the Stars and Stripes at Ground Zero would be changed for the sake of political correctness. "I was infuriated when I found out," Moran said late Monday in exclusive comments to NewsMax.com. "I couldn't believe it was true." Moran revealed that he serves side-by-side with one of the three firefighters captured in a world famous photo now known as "The Flag Raising at Ground Zero," which shows Old Glory being hoisted Iwo Jima-like on a makeshift flagpole atop the smoldering rubble of the Twin Towers. "It makes me feel like maybe some of us aren't good enough," said Moran, whose firefighter brother was killed in the attacks. "Maybe next time they show the faces of firemen who died at Ground Zero they ought to leave out those who don't fit the profile they want." A firestorm of protest has erupted in the week since NewsMax.com broke the story of firefighters distressed by the decision to replace two of their comrades with more racially diverse substitutes in the statue tribute. (See: FDNY Whistleblower: Media Nixed News of Race Changes to 9/11 Flag Statue) Hours before Moran spoke to NewsMax, Bill Kelly, lawyer for hero firemen Dan McWilliams, Billy Eisengrein and George Johnson, told Fox News Channel that he was considering seeking a court injunction to halt production of the sculpture, which is set to be displayed at FDNY headquarters at the MetroTech Center in Brooklyn. 343 hero firefighters perished in the 9/11 attacks, the worst single day's loss of life in firefighting history anywhere. Moran himself became a symbol of FDNY defiance in the face of the devastating tragedy when he addressed Paul McCartney's Madison Square Garden benefit concert on Oct. 20. "All I can say, on behalf of my brother John and the twelve members from Ladder 3 that we've lost ... and all the people from my neighborhood, my hometown, Rockaway Beach, Queens, New York: Our friends, our relatives, our neighbors; they are not gone because they are not forgotten," Moran told the cheering crowd. "And I want to say one more thing, in the spirit of the Irish people: Osama bin Laden, you can kiss my royal Irish a - s," he added, in a signature challenge that has become almost as famous as the flag raising photo itself. more articles at www.newsmax.com"