A local 9/11 hero has been selected to lead one of Westchester County's largest St. Patrick's Day celebrations.

Matt McCauley had just retired from the NYPD and was working as a paramedic in Mamaroneck when the first plane struck the World Trade Center.

He spent weeks working on the pile to get the city back on its feet.

McCauley now spends all his spare time advocating - pro-bono - for the thousands of 9/11 responders who later developed ground zero-related illnesses. It's that advocacy that earned McCauley the role of "grand marshal" for this year's Sound Shore St. Patrick's Day Parade.

McCauley is part of a delegation of advocates heading to Washington, D.C. next week to advocate against funding cuts to the World Trade Health program.

He will be back just in time for the parade on the March 29.