The Obama Administration has announced a grant of more than half a million dollars for the victims of the Oak Creek Gurdwara shootout a year ago, as the Sikh community began a four-day memorial service observing the tragic incident in Wisconsin that killed six Sikh worshippers.

"I'm pleased to announce that the Justice Department's Office on Victims of Crime will offer an emergency assistance grant to the Wisconsin Department of Justice providing over $512,000 to help reimburse, and continue to pay for, mental health and trauma services for the victims and survivors of this horrific shooting," US Attorney General Eric Holder said in a blog posting yesterday.

"These funds are intended to assist all those affected - including family members, witnesses, first responders and the wider Oak Creek community -- as they continue to rebuild their lives and keep displaying the extraordinary resiliency so many of us have come to admire," he wrote.