Even though he distinguished himself in service to the NYPD, John still felt that something was missing. As someone whose personality centered around helping others the Fire Dept was attracting him as a way to accomplish that. John also longed for the camaraderie and team ethic of the firehouse. After 12 years of service with the NYPD he followed in the footsteps of his father Anthony and his brother Gerard by joining the New York City Fire Department. "He knew you work as a team, as a unit in the Fire Department -- he liked that,' said his brother. "He always thought people call the Police Department when there's a problem, to get somebody bad, but you call the Fire Department when people needed help."

Although aged 37 at the time; John set to working out and preparing with singular determination. John graduated the Fire Academy in 1998. John was first assigned to Engine Co. 219 on Dean St in Downtown Brooklyn for his first year. As part of the standard rotation for probies; he rotated through Ladder Co. 81 in South Beach, Staten Island and Engine Co. 80 in Harlem through 1999 into 2001. John had just recently returned to his home company, Engine 219 on Dean St. to familiar surroundings serving downtown Brooklyn. Things were looking up for John. He attained his Fire department dream and had just ended his probationary period. He was back in the neighborhood he knew poised to start the rest of his career with his 40th birthday around the corner. Most importantly he had met the girl of his dreams, Gina De Falco and they had set the date to get married for October 2001. By all accounts, John was the happiest he had ever been.

On September 11th when John arrived at Engine 219, coverage necessitated that he move across the floor to the sister unit in the house, Ladder 105. That morning both units were called to respond to the World Trade Center.

John was last seen helping rescue people from Tower 2.

After his honorable discharge from the Marines in 1987, Mr. Chipura desired to continue serving the community and joined the city Police Department in 1987. He was assigned to the 72nd Precinct in his old neighborhood, Sunset Park. John was a member of the New York Police Department for 12 years. He was assigned first to the 72nd Precinct in Brooklyn, where he worked for seven years, before joining Brooklyn South Narcotics in 1994 where he earned a gold shield as a Brooklyn Narcotics detective. He returned to the 72nd Precinct as a detective three years later. John received numerous citations for excellent police duty.

As a testament to John Chipura's service style as a police officer, Officer Pat Quinlan, who worked with Chipura at the 72nd Precinct, said John never took anything personally and always helped fellow officers, offering them career advice and guidance. "He would pull recruits off to the side and talk to them about the pitfalls of the job," he said. "He always tried to help out the new officers." Lt. Jack Cambria, who supervised Chipura's squad in 1991, said Chipura was compassionate about people's needs.

Fellow Firefighter Peter DiSalvo said Chipura's success as a police officer was a testament to his professionalism. "He spoke to the bad guys like a man," DiSalvo said. "He would confront them and tell them he had a job to do."

John served from 1980 to 1984 stationed at Camp Lejeune with several tours overseas in the 24th MAU HQ. John was a corporal and a radioman with 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment with the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit in Beirut From Oct 82 to March 84.

On October 23, 1983 John Chipura was a young marine in Beirut, Lebanon as part of the Multinational Peacekeeping Forces there. At 6:15 am John was walking towards the barracks when he ran into a buddy going in the opposite direction. He stopped to chat. At 6:20 AM a truck driven by a suicide bomber, belonging to a group which would one day become Hezbollah, arrived on the scene. After circling the truck crashed through the chain link fence of the compound. The truck drove between two sentry posts and headed straight for the lobby of the US Marine HQ and barracks. Since the Marines were on a Peacekeeping mission in Lebanon; the rules of engagement were to keep their weapons unloaded. The sentries in the post could not respond quick enough. At 6:22 AM the bombers truck hit the building. The truck was carrying an improvised device which had the equivalent blast of 12,000 lbs of TNT. The building completely collapsed. Because John had stopped to chat he was still 50 yards from the barracks when it collapsed. John became a rescuer of his fellow marines. He joined a horde of other Marines on the rubble pile searching for survivors. The last survivor, a chaplain, was buried for almost 6 hours. 241 of his fellow leathernecks and service members died as a result of the terrorist attack. During subsequent investigations; ties of Iranian involvement were found.

On the Homefront information was scarce. John’s family were watching the coverage on the news on Sunday the day it happened. The next few days were spent searching the dead and missing records. Some of John’s marine brothers from his first tour called to say it was unlikely that he was in that building but nothing could be know. The family did not have word about John until 3 days later. On Wednesday, John finally got through to call his Mom.

John was honorably discharged on May 22, 1987

John joined the Boy Scouts in 1974 as a member of Troop 21 in Tottenville, Staten Island. He attained Eagle Scout and later in his adult life was an Assistant Scout Master until 2001. Chip felt very strongly about the Boy Scouts as a positive part of his life.