2018 National EMS Memorial Service Honoree Mario Bastidas

Mario Bastidas, 55, died April 1, 2017, after he succumbed to a certified World Trade Center illness he contracted in the line-of-duty.

Mario developed cancer as a result of serving this Nation in response to the rescue and recovery of the thousands of Americans who fell at the World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York City, New York on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, after four coordinated terrorist attacks on the United States.

Mario served the city of New York for 26 years as a paramedic at the Brooklyn’s Battalion 31 and then as a Lieutenant Paramedic for the New York City Fire Department’s Emergency Medical Services Command at Brooklyn’s Battalion 58

He was not only a hero to his community and a true American Hero, but also a family man.