OK - Murrah Building bombing, Oklahoma City, 19 April 1995

[wfgodot]

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Bill Clinton wipes tears from eyes, hails Oklahoma 'example for the world' on 20th anniversary of OKC bombing

article, videos, pictures aplenty

 

[wendybtn]

We have a family reunion in Wichita, Kansas, in the first part of June. Two years ago, we came back through Tulsa to show the kids where I grew up. This year we will stop at Graceland on the way out there and go to OKC and visit the memorial before we head back. All planned around the now 15 year old's Wednesday chemo at Vanderbilt in Nashville.
I am almost a little apprehensive about it. Like, what if I cry and cannot stop? I will try to control myself and my husband will be there. That daycare center will probably do us both in. I always remember McVeigh being so upset that the day care was there and killing kids would make it hard for him to get his message out. Sicko.

 

[wfgodot]

I always cry on the day. Yep. Not sure how I would handle being there -- have never been back.

 

[EllieBee]

And of course today also marks 16 years since Columbine.

It is a sad day all around.

 

[HoneyWest]

I've visited twice and I have to say it is beautiful. Wendybtn, don't worry about crying and not being able to stop. You won't be the only one. It's very emotional. For me, it was the chairs...all those chairs with a name on every one. Then you notice the little chairs. That's when my tears started flowing. But then I made it around to the Survivor Tree and that big beautiful tree gave back a sense of strength.

Oklahomans are a resilient bunch, whether you still live here or not. Tights hugs to all my fellow Okies.

 

[~Lyric~]

My aunt lived in the area when this happened...I can remember being on the phone for hours with my mom, as we tried to get a hold of her sister, to make sure all of her family were safe. I saw it unfolding on the news and called mom, she hadn't seen any of it yet.

Finally after a few hours mom got a hold of her sister.

I'll never forget that day.

 

[HMSHood]

20 years later and feels like yesterday. :tears:

 

[EllieBee]

It is weird to read the initial reports and the suspect description as being several middle-eastern males.

Especially since we now know the truth.

But remember this was what, 18 months (maybe 2 years?) after the WTC bombings, which WERE Muslim jihadist terrorists.

 

[wendybtn]

When I heard on the radio the firefighters who were on scene at the time talk about how little Bailey was transferred from one firefighter to the other, and how that's when the famous photo was snapped, but at that point they just knew...well, I lost it and cried in the car on my way to work.

They talked about a memorial with chairs. Has anyone seen it first hand?

I got to see it in 2015, just a couple of months after the 20th anniversary. I graduated from the Oklahoma University College of Nursing in 1987, just a small distance from the Murrah Building.