It's strange how vivid the memory is of where I was when this tragedy took place. I was sick and home from school that day. I was sad to be sick that day because our 5th grade class was supposed to take a field trip to Oklahoma City to see some sort of concert. I was laying on the living room couch half asleep when I heard a loud bang. I immediately thought someone had kicked in our front door and was getting ready to burglarize our house. I laid completely still and quiet for a good five minutes until I finally had the courage to look over the edge of the couch at the front door. I remember being so surprised that the front door was untouched. My mom immediately got word to me about the bombing and I watched the situation unfold on the TV.
At 9:02 a.m., a Ryder truck with excess of 4,800 pounds of of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, nitromethane, and diesel fuel mixture detonated in front of the nine-story Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. Timothy McVeigh planned the attack to take place on April 19 to coincide with the anniversary of the Waco Siege.
168 people lost their lives that morning and one third of the building was destroyed. The victims included 19 children under the age of 6 and injured more than 680 people. The explosion created a 30-foot wide crater and over 324 buildings within a sixteen-block radius were destroyed or damaged. Secondary explosions from the 86 cars around the site soon followed the initial blast.
Over 12,000 people volunteered and assisted in the relief and rescue operations. The next few days, I remember joining my family at our church which was only a few blocks from the site. I helped pass out food to all of the firefighters, police officers and volunteers. I remember the mood of the room and the kindness of the volunteers. And I remember the sadness in the rescuers' eyes. One of the weird things that has stuck with me the longest was about the canine units. I remember being told that the dogs were getting depressed at how few people were being found alive. They started burying volunteers and letting the dogs find them to raise the dogs' morale. That has always been a touching and sobering example of the days following the bombing. It also has stood in my memory as an example of human perseverance, love, and selflessness.
On May 23 at 7:02 a.m., the Murrah Federal building was finally demolished. The final three bodies of victims were recovered after the demolition. That morning, my family went downtown to watch the building come to its resting place. I sat in the dark street doing homework with a flashlight as we waited for the moment to come. I remember the tears and the silence around me as the last bit of evidence fell to the ground.
Exactly five years after the bombing, the Memorial was officially opened. The memorial contains a reflecting pool settled between two large gates. The first gate says the time 9:01 and the other gate is inscribed with 9:03 The reflecting pool represents 9:02 and the exact moment of the blast. Next to the reflecting pool is a "field of symbolic bronze and stone chairs—one for each person lost, arranged according to what floor of the building they were on. The chairs represent the empty chairs at the dinner tables of the victims' families. The seats of the children killed are smaller than those of the adults lost."
Also at the memorial is a 90-year-old American elm known as the Survival Tree. It now stands on the highest point of the memorial and is surrounded by granite that reads, "The spirit of this city and this nation will not be defeated; our deeply rooted faith sustains us."
A small part of the building's original foundation was left intact which holds a note from one of the rescue teams: "We search for the truth, we seek justice. We seek justice. The courts require it, the victims cry for it, God demands it!"
To this day, the 1995 bombing remains the most lethal single act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history. It was estimated that a third of Oklahoma's population knew someone who was directly affected by it.
Finally, here are the words inscribed on the gates:
We come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever. May all who leave here know the impact of violence. May this memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity.
I borrowed many of these photos from the memorial's website. If you haven't had a chance to visit it yet in person, you should! If not, at least go to their website.
Once again, my thoughts and prayers have gone out today to all of those affected by the Oklahoma City bombing.
