The Alfred P. Murrah Bombing Anniversary
This is a subject that is near and dear to my heart. I lived in Oklahoma City when Timothy McVeigh decided to set off a bomb that eventually killed at least 168 innocent people, including a lot of children. My home was 11 miles northwest of the epicenter of the blast, and it shook every home in the neighborhood. My neighbors and I all went out to our yards at about 9:15 a.m. on April 19, 1995 to figure out what the loud boom was. We had no idea what we were about to face. Carnage which we had only seen on international TV from the streets of Lebanon and other countries that were riddled by terrorism. Little did we know, this was only the beginning and too close to home.
So today, I take this moment to honor the fallen of those who died that fateful day. They did not deserve to die, nor was it their “time,” but they are gone still the same. One of the first officers to respond was Oklahoma City PD Sgt. Terry Yeakey, and he saw first-hand the brutal carnage of dead children from the day care center, below which McVeigh had parked his Ryder truck filled with explosives in an effort to bring down the entire building and cripple the Federal government. McVeigh saddenly mistook the resolve of Oklahomans and our will not only to survive, but to fight back.
The damage he caused can not be explained in words, and if you ever go visit Oklahoma City for any reason, I strongly encourage you to visit the Murrah building memorial site. It is haunting with the tangible lost souls you feel when you’re there.
Yeakey wasn’t the only one who tried to rescue injured and dead children either. This picture became the symbol of the horrors Oklahomans and our firefighers, police and rescue workers who worked 24/7 on this monstrous event to save anyone and everyone they could. The only problem is, Yeakey was so distraught, he wound up committing suicide weeks later.
This photo of Firefighter Chris Fields became one of the iconic images to encapsulate the horrors of the days’ events.
There are still so many unanswered questions about McVeigh and who his accomplices were, but one thing for sure; McVeigh met his certain fate in a prison cell, and I’ll only say that very few, if any, tears were shed for that monster. The Nichols brothers still have a lot for which they have to answer, so time will only tell about that one. Jayna Davis, an investigative reporter, did a marvelous expose on the details of that event, and you can read them in her book, “The Third Terrorist.” I urge you to read this tome – it’s very chilling.
To my friends and family back in Oklahoma, I only hope to be back with you someday soon. A person’s roots are never forgotten. Yet even more scary, the Murrah building was only the beginning in a long list of attacks to come on American soil.
God bless those men, women, and K9s who risked it all to bring a few home.
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