08/12/2021
With our 9/11 celebration one month away we would like to invite you to get to know our 9/11 guests that will be joining us this year.
We would like to introduce Robert Abril...
Robert Abril came to the US in the summer of 1979 at the age of 17. He attended Columbia University for one semester before his spirit of adventure called on him. In 1980 he joined the US Navy, even though he did not speak any English. He transitioned to the USMC in 1981 and graduated as a combat medic in September of the same year. In 1983 he was deployed to Beirut, Lebanon, where he lost his comrades in a massive explosion at the Marine Corps barracks. He and a few others were the only survivors.
90 days before his honorable discharge, he met a girl who would become his wife for the past 33 years. He wrote her a letter every single day until his discharge – 90 in total! During his marriage he had three sons; Robert, Paul and Michael. All three are wonderful, wholesome boys who resemble their father in many ways.
He attended The City College of New York, acquiring pre-medicine credits. In November of 1989, he joined the FDNY Academy for Emergency Medicine, graduating as a Paramedic in January of 1992. On September 11, 2001, he responded to the Twin Towers tragedy, staying at ground Zero for a total of 18 hours. He saved many lives on that horrible day but lost his partner of 11 years, FDNY Paramedic Carlos Lillo.
Between USMC and the FDNY he has survived many life-threatening events.
Today he is a retired FDNY Paramedic who practices real estate in his spare time. These days, his passion is working out and traveling the world. He feels that every day is a gift and should be lived to the utmost.
He firmly believes that being thankful to our military personnel and all our veterans is the back bone of a well-established democracy and they should never be forgotten. Neither should all the first responders that have perished while rendering help to complete strangers.
He has always pushed himself to extraordinary heights, to the point that he ran two NYC marathons is 1998 and 1999. Nowadays, still married to Dora, the girl with the 90 letters, he lives in Forest Hills, NY. He thinks that his meaning in life is to show kindness to random people in need and everyone he comes across. He feels that is why God still has him on this earth.
