US commemorates Sept. 11's 6th anniversary

A suburban New York community will dedicate a massive$2 million (1.46 million EUR) memorial to the victims this weekend to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

Photo: US commemorates Sept. 11's 6th anniversary

Hundreds are expected to gather Sunday morning at a local park for the dedication of a memorial that features two semitransparent aluminum towers, representing the World Trade Center towers, rising 30 feet (9.14 meters) from a fountain.

The memorial, which is set on a small lake and contains two pieces of steel beams from ground zero, lists the names of 344 people from Nassau County who perished.

Although no statistics have been kept on casualties by county, Nassau - a community where thousands of people commute into New York City - is believed to have had one of the highest number of victims among the New York suburbs.

President George W. Bush, former New York Governor George Pataki and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani participated in the groundbreaking for the memorial in March 2004, but Sunday's ceremony is expected to have a more local feel.

"We want it to be more about the families and less about politics," said Ian Siegel, president of Nassau's 9/11 Memorial Foundation. "We want it to be respectful and dignified."