Remembering Oklahoma City: April 19th

[DoubleTrouble]

Remembering Oklahoma City

April 19th commemorates the 10th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. I don't know if it's time passing or the event being eclipsed by 9/11 but what happened that day seems to slipping from our memory. I don't know if this is a good or bad thing.

Time heals old wounds and we tend to forget the bad things that happen to us. This is good. However, after visiting the memorial one can never forget. We need to remember those souls lost in the destruction, their rescuers, and a city ripped apart.

I visited the memorial by chance when I moved to Wichita. We moved from Texas and in order for our freight to catch up with us stayed over the weekend in Oklahoma City. Visiting the memorial was a truly moving experience. I was in South Africa when it happened and even our evening television (they are 8 hours ahead) was interrupted with the breaking news. It was unbelievable.

Watching it on TV you develop preconceived ideas and feelings about the event and only a personal visit to the site can dissolve them. I agreed with the sentence imposed but hoped that it would never be carried out. I felt we did not need another chair added to the memorial. However, after visiting the site, seeing and hearing the stories, and feeling the pain and suffering, there was no doubt in my mind that justice was served. Sad but true.

A few weeks after the event is Mothers day. 19 Children died in the blast, 30 children were orphaned, and 219 children lost at least one parent.

We took my mother-in-law and she was overcome by it. She was visiting from South Africa and was really affected by the memorial. Even a stranger to this country could feel the pain. Across the road from the memorial is the church that was severely damaged in the blast. They erected a statue of Jesus with his back to the memorial, facing a black wall, with 168 missing bricks in it. All the memorial says is, "Jesus Wept". How apt.

In Wichita, we are less than 2.5 hours from Oklahoma City and I urge those of you in the proximity who have not visited the memorial to make the short trip. I for one intend to be there on April 19 at 9:02 am.

God bless Oklahoma City.

http://www.oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org/

 

[XRpredator]

I remember it every year. Pred2 was born that day.

Spent all night comforting momma thru the delivery, finally got the little sucker out, and kicked back to relax a bit. OKC was all that was on TV all the sudden.

matter of fact, our assistant chief of police here in Moscow used to be a po-leece-man in OKC, and he said that it was a rather "fortunate" situation (if you can call it that in any way whatsoever) that it happened when it did. (could have been worse, in other words). Many assets were already in place due to training exercises and such. Confusion was very minimal for such a catastrophic event.

 

[Okiewan]

I finally went to the Memorial last year for the first time. If you are ever near OKC, make it a point to go there.

 

[MrLuckey]

I used to live in OKC (Edmond really) and have been there many times. Before the memorial was created and it was just chain link fences with shirts, pictures, stuffed animals etc from all over the world it was just as moving. My first visit to 'the fence' was overwhelming. I had to walk away and breathe for awhile before continuing around the fence.

Here are a couple pics

PIC1

PIC2

 

[a454elk]

My birthday as well. :( I too remember....

 

[mx547]

i've been twice. we'll probably go again this summer.

 

[D Lafleur]

I was working in Abidjan, Ivory Coast (West Africa) when it happened. We had it all over the tv there also. I couldnt believe it. It was unreal to think that people could actually be so cold. The genocide in Rwanda was also happening at the time and for the most part it was taking up the local news. I look back and realize that I didnt fully comprehend the current situations that were going on both in OKC and Rwanda.

I am still amazed with the changes that happen as a person matures.

 

[Crispy]

I was in Oklahoma a few months after it happend, and it was devastating to see. The chain link fence Eddie talks about was something. The fence was so crammed with messages, teddy bears, crosses and shirts that you could barely see the fence anymore. I have been back to the site 3 times after that and the memorial is wonderful. The museum is exceptional but hard to walk thru. The pictures, and the 911 tapes and recordings, the personal stories... its unbleiveable. But when you walk outside, you feel very serene, almost as if the site itself was now at peace. I dont think I will ever forget that day.

Our hearts and prayers are still with Oklahoma City.

 

[FiremanCRF450R]

Remembering

I'm glad to see people go there and realize the pain and sorrow that happened at the site. I was on duty the day of the bombing and spent several weeks there working. The trip through the museum does a excellent job of giving you some kind of feeling to what it was like during the bombing. I shed many a tears at that place while working and lost several good friends. The response from everyone in this great country is what makes it so great to be a AMERICAN!!!!

 

[High Lord Gomer]

Thank you, sir!

 

[BunduBasher]

After DW04 I stopped off with my son Jonathan, it was a beautiful day, blue sky, cool breeze, an almost serene day. Walking around the chain link fence was almost too much for me, brought tears to my eyes. Jon is still too young to comprehend the emotions, always asks whats wrong Dad !

If you are ever in or passing through OKC, stop by the memorial, it'l take just an hour or so out of your day, but it will be worth it.

 

[DoubleTrouble]

That picture of Jesus weeping and the ground soaked in rain on a grey day is quite something. It's like Oklahoma City is crying...

Thanks for sharing MrLuckey. http://webpages.charter.net/drnspode/Pictures/DCP01727.JPG

 

[BSWIFT]

Many of our elders all around the world can remember some incidence of human horror. April 19, 2005 was the first that stopped me in my tracks. Until that time, senselss crimes against humanity were only pictures in a book or a short blurb given by Walter Chronkite on the evening news.
The events of 9/11 brought back that feeling and reinforced, "We will NEVER forget!" I have visited the "fence" which left me with a numbing feeling, one which is both unsettleling and moving at the same time. Very few things in my lifetime thus far have made my soul weep as much as my eyes. I only live a short distance away and have been to the Memorial once sense it's completion but I know that everytime I go there, I will feel the same, saddened that some in this world must destroy to fullfill their narrow mindless agenda. This was not an act of war but an act of barbarizm on a peaceful community.
"I, WE WILL NEVER FORGET!"

 

[DoubleTrouble]

At DW05 maybe we organize a day-trip for those who have never been to the memorial. Take up a donation to the fund as well.

Just some thoughts...

 

[FiremanCRF450R]

Trip to bombing memorial

That would be a good trip and if I'm free that day I would be willing to go along and tell everyone what I saw and what kind of things I was involved in at the site. I was on the first arriving mutual aid fire company to arrive and assist OKC Fire with rescue and recovering efforts.