VIDEO/PHOTOS: The son of a beloved FDNY hero who rescued a fallen straphanger from the tracks — before dying on 9/11 trying to save his comrades — was among more than 100 Bravest to be promoted Tuesday. Frederick J. Ill, the third, landed the new rank of captain for Queen’s Rescue 4, making him the same rank as his courageous namesake father when he died in the terror attacks almost exactly 24 years ago.
“I am a legacy,” Ill, 46, told The Post after accepting his new title. “My father was Captain Frederick J. Ill, the junior, and he was in Ladder Company 2 on 9/11, so to carry his name, very special.” Ill’s father was 49 years old when he bravely charged into the burning Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001 — but he was already a hero in the FDNY. Frederick J. Ill Jr. was lauded in 1999 after he leaped onto the subway tracks without checking to see if the third rail’s power had been turned off to save the life of a man who had been pushed into the path of an incoming train. Not only did the late hero save the man, but the two also established a strong friendship.
Frederick J. Ill Jr. stayed nearby as the man learned to walk on artificial legs and even helped his son be admitted to St. Raymond’s High School, the high school from which Capt. Ill had graduated. Two years later, Ill Jr. bravely entered the North Tower to rescue the injured and trapped civilians on the building’s 17th floor shortly before its collapse. “When told to evacuate, he said, ‘Let me get my guys first,’” according to his obituary. For Ill the third, becoming a captain with the FDNY means accepting that same responsibility and heroism that his father proudly displayed.
