The Town of Cortlandt is now in possession of a piece of World Trade Center Steel that will be used to create a 9/11 Memorial in Croton-on-Hudson at Croton Landing.

Several dozen police, firefighters, volunteers and elected officials traveled in a 16- vehicle caravan early Thursday morning to pick up the steel girder from the World Trade Center's North Tower at a hangar at JFK Airport.

Cortlandt Town Supervisor Linda Puglisi says it was an emotional trip for all involved, 

Speaking at a ceremony at Cortlandt Town Hall afterward, Puglisi said "We are blessed and fortunate to be able to  have a portion of that steel that we can put into a fitting tribute memorial that is currently being designed in memory of those from our community, our country and the world who perished on that very tragic day."

The project is the brainchild of Croton-on-Hudson resident Janet Mainiero. She is now part of a volunteer Task Force that's overseeing the design, fundraising and construction of the Memorial, which they are hoping will be created by this September 11, the 10th Anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

Maniero recalls reading the article in the New York Times two years ago calling for municipalities interested in using some of the salvaged World Trade Center material for memorials. She then called it to the attention to Croton-on-Hudson Mayor Leo Wiegman who drafted a letter to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey seeking the material for a future 9/11 Memorial in the village.

Maniero admits she was shocked to learn that Croton-on-Hudson was approved and that the neighboring communities of Buchanan and Cortlandt Manor wanted to make the memorial a reality.

The memorial will serve as a remembrance she says, not only for the four Cortlandt residents who were killed on that day but for families in the three towns and villages who lost friends in the attacks, "I know it will bring a remembrance, a continuing remembrance. I have some friends who are holocaust survivors and they do fear that things will be forgotten."