Westchester unveils new 9/11 memorial at Kensico Dam Plaza

A new memorial at the Kensico Dam Plaza in Valhalla that honors first responders who died as a result of 9/11-related illnesses was previewed Friday afternoon in an unveiling attended by families and friends.

The public unveiling and dedication ceremony was scheduled to take place on the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, Sept. 11, at 3:30 p.m.

The 9/11 First Responders Memorial is at the Kensico Dam Plaza, next to the county’s original 9/11 memorial, “The Rising,” a sculpture made up of 109 stainless steel rods, each representing a Westchester resident who died in the terrorist attacks. The new memorial consists of two 20-foot stone veneer walls with memorial tablets placed on top.

The stone tablets are engraved with the names of those Westchester residents who have been lost due to 9/11-related illnesses. There initially are two engraved stone tablets in place and the design allows for up to eight engraved tablets.

Family members and friends at unveiling of new 9/11 First Responders Memorial at the Kensico Dam Plaza in Valhalla. Photo by Peter Katz.

A committee of volunteers made up of Westchester residents who lost loved ones to 9/11-related illnesses worked about three years on the creation of the memorial along with County Executive George Latimer’s office, the county’s Department of Planning and the Department of Parks, Recreation & Conservation.

Co-chairing the committee were New York City Police Officer Matthew J. McCauley and retired NYPD Sgt. Peter Woods. Woods died of a 9/11-related illness on Jan. 9 of this year. He was a commissioner of the Hartsdale Fire District, was a first responder on 9/11 and worked on the debris at Ground Zero for five months afterward.

One of the 18 volunteer committee members, Westchester resident Georgia Asciutto who lost her husband due a 9/11-related illness, told the Business Journal, “The plan was to memorialize and recognize our residents here so that family members could have a place to come to and pay their respects to, and we could honor them.”

She said that it is a living memorial in the sense that more people are still succumbing to 9/11-related illnesses and the memorial can be modified to honor their memories.

“Even though we’re 20 years, we have set it up so that additional names, sadly, when they occur, could be added,” Asciutto said. “We want to be able to make the families proud of their heroes and for the county to be proud of their heroes.”

McCauley said, “Unfortunately, the toll of those lost continues to increase due to 9/11-related illnesses that have claimed many of our 9/11 first responders. Again, Westchester County has seen far too many lost to 9/11 illnesses. This permanent memorial alongside ‘The Rising’ will ensure that the sacrifice of all lost that day and thereafter is never forgotten.”

Latimer described the sacrifices made on 9/11 and in its aftermath as incalculable.

“The people that died on 9/11 clearly made a sacrifice, clearly the civilians as well as those that were the first responders,” Latimer said.

“This memorial is going to be here long after I’m around and that’s the purpose of memorials like ‘The Rising’ from a decade-and-a-half ago is that we show that we valued these lives. They mattered and they need to be remembered generation to generation.”