Tribute to the Victims of the Unimaginable

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On April 19, 1995 I was in college. I had just celebrated my 35th birthday. Monday and Wednesday were my class days (by design), so I’d been in class all day and hadn’t heard the news. When I called my mother to make sure she was home from work (and to let her know I was okay), she told me a bomb had gone off at a federal building in Oklahoma. My thoughts, of course, were of a small, “Unibomber” type letter bomb thing. I was not prepared for what I saw on the news when I got home after school. Unimaginable. Unfathomable. How on this earth could anyone do that to his fellow countrymen? And an ARMY VETERAN at that?! I was sickened, as we all probably were 25 years ago when the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was heavily damaged by a truck bomb. That picture of the fireman carrying the lifeless baby. That poor man (Dr. Brian Espe from the USDA), terrified of heights, being calmly talked down a fire engine ladder by a fireman. The blood-covered “walking wounded.” President Clinton biting his lip to keep his composure. How does anyone forget those images? Part of my main objective this trip was to make it to the Oklahoma City National Memorial, which is located at the site of the Murrah Building’s destruction. The tribute to the victims of the unimaginable is simply stunning. The memorial is in two parts. Outside is a reflection pool, located between two walls known as “The Gates of Time,” one with “9:01” and the other with “9:03” etched in them. In between was 9:02, when the bomb went off. Also outside is the miraculous “survivor tree,” an American elm that was a few yards from the full impact of the truck bomb....and yet survived. It became a symbol of the city’s resolve and healing. An overlook near the tree allows a panoramic view of the reflection pool, the Empty Chairs, part of the original building on which the over 600 survivors’ names are inscribed on plaques, and the Gates of Time. The 168 victims are memorialized in the Field of Empty Chairs. The chairs are in nine rows, and each victim’s chair is in the row corresponding to the floor he or she was on when the bomb hit. Five chairs outside of the rows represent the five victims outside the building. The former building that housed the business paper The Journal Record houses the other part of the memorial: the museum. The building itself was damaged during the bombing (you can see where part of the roof had to be replaced). The museum is laid out chronologically, with a recording from the Oklahoma Water Resource Board recording the explosion and the chaos that ensued beginning the trip through the nightmare that was April 19, 1995. Along the way there are numerous recovered items (some donated by the families of victims), recordings, recollections, news reports, and photographs. Included in the section detailing the investigation is the heavily damaged license plate from the rented truck, as well as the getaway car. Near the conclusion of the self-guided tour is the Gallery of Honor, displaying photographs of the 168 victims as well as mementos of their lives provided by family members. The grounds are free; the museum is $15 with discounts for seniors, military, students, and youth. It is worth the money, the time, the trip, and everything else necessary to come and stand on this hallowed ground.