Frederick Charles Moran was born on 2 March 1925, the youngest of the five children of George Edward Moran (1889-1967) and Eliza Moran née Gear (1888-1986). His birth was registered in the 1st quarter of 1925 in the Hendon Registration District, Middlesex (now Greater London).
His four siblings were: George Moran (b.1913); Doris K. E. Moran (1916-1918); Robert G. Moran (b.1920) and Leslie A. Moran (b.1922).
In the 1939 England and Wales Register he was shown as a G.P.O. messenger, living at 115 Torcross Road, Ruislip, Middlesex (now Greater London), with his parents and an elder brother, Leslie A. Moran, who was also a G.P.O. messenger. His father was described as a civil engineer.
He was appointed as a postman in the East Central District of the London Postal Region in January 1942 and was promoted to the grade of sorter in September 1943.
He joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and as a Wireless Operator/Air Gunner was attached to No.19 Operational Training Unit. On 30 August 1944, aged 19 years, he was aboard an Armstrong Whitley Mk V bomber aeroplane, serial number AD712, marking ZV-L, which took off from RAF Kinloss, Moray, Scotland at 09.33 hours for a navigational exercise. Whilst flying over the Gargunnock Hills near Stirling, Stirlingshire, Scotland, the aircraft encountered thick cloud and the pilot lost control. The aircraft was seen to dive out of the cloud at a steep angle and disintegrated at 11.06 hours, burning debris being scattered east of Stirling. All six men aboard were killed. His body was buried in Section H, Grave 29, in the Northwood Cemetery, Chestnut Avenue, Northwood, HA6 1HU.
He is shown as 'Moran F.C.' on the Western Postal District war memorial in Mount Pleasant, London, WC1. He is also commemorated on Panel 75 of the Lincolnshire Bomber Command Memorial, Canwick Hill, Lincoln, LN4 2HQ, on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website and on page 178 of the Post Office Fellowship of Remembrance's Book of Remembrance 1939-1949.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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