The 75th Infantry Reunion had a trip to the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum planned. After a quick scrambled egg and bacon breakfast in the Founders Room, we all met in the lobby of the hotel to car pool over to the Memorial. For former military, we weren’t exactly keeping a tight schedule. The military pastor was the one to keep us moving along, to get to the entrance by 10am which was the scheduled entry time.  The calendar of events is in military time so I spend some time each night converting the plans to am and pm.

The museum and memorial were quite impressive, it is housed in a former newspaper building. We were taking up to the second floor of the museum and we were told we would work our way downwards. April 19, 1995 began like any other in Oklahoma City. One of the first rooms showed the history of the site where municipal building was constructed. There were several churches just blocks from the building. From there the pastor an I entered into the municipal room, where audio was playing of a mundane water resources meeting. Just as I started to loose interest, a huge explosion was heard and the lights flashed in the room, as panic could be heard from people trying to escape the devastation. This was live audio recorded on the day that the Municipal Building had been bombed. On the wall across from us the faces appeared of all those who had lost their lives on that fateful  day.The faces slowlu faded away and a set of doors opened to the next room.

With the meeting concluded we entered the chaos. The fractured sign of the municipal building was on a wall and across from it were a few letters that had been pulled from the wreckage. Walls were charred and there was the smell of sulfur. in the air. Glass enclosed exhibits in the next room had everyday office supplies that had been crushed of destroyed. I focused on an electronic pencil sharpener which was broken in half and partly crushed. That caught my attention since I use a pencil sharpener often back at the art studio. One display told the story of hearing a survivor buried under the rubble and setting all other concerns aside to try and rescue that one person. Over the course of the day, the numbers of reported dead continued to rise. Anyone who had walked away from the explosion was encouraged to call in since there were so many people who were missing.

The investigation began immediately and evidence began to mount that this was a domestic terrorist explosion. The back axial of a u-Haul rental truck was recovered and it had a serial number on it. That serial number lead to a Miami u-Haul dealership. The truck was supposed to be at a Nebraska site for repair and it had been sold to the perpetrator under an alias. The needless violence had been inspired by the Waco Texas incident where a compound had been burnt to the ground with many inside dying.  Violence begets violence. The perpetrator was getting away in a 1977 Mercury Marquis and he might have gotten out of the state but he was pulled over for not having a license plate on the car. The officer who pulled the vehicle over noticed that there was a concealed weapon so he was arrested on a weapons charge. Only later did they realize that they had the bomber under arrest.

One full room is dedicated to remembering those who were lost. The explosion killed 168 people and injured over 600 others. Rebecca Anderson, was a 37-year-old licensed practical nurse. She showed up at the explosion site and immediately went about trying to save others. She pulled one person out of the building and then went back in to find others. While inside, she sustained a head injury. She managed to get back outside and collapsed in the arms of another rescue worker. She was brought to the hospital where they performed an operation to relieve pressure on the brain. Despite their best efforts, she died three days later. 

There were so man interviews of survivors. One man wondered if he had lost faith in human nature and should isolate himself from humanity. After seeing Oklahoma Cities response to the tragedy, he decided that despite the horror of what he had witnessed, he felt there was so much good to be found in the world. Outside the museum is the Field f Empty chairs with one chair for each victim. The chairs occupy the former sire of the Municipal building that had been bombed. On Harvey Avenue, there is a chin link fence where people still leave mementos for those who have been lost. The fence reminded me of so many others that I have seen a Pulse in Orlando, Las Vegas, and Park land High School in Parkland Florida.

Hate groups were on the rise in the 1990s with the KKK and Militias and anti-government extremism. It would be nice if humanity had moved past hate, but hate groups are on the rise in America now more that every. 168 chairs sit silently in a beautiful empty filed in city center looking towards a tranquil reflecting pool. At the top of a stair stepped rising across the reflecting pool stands the Survivor Tree. It is the highest pint in the Memorial and stands for strength and resilience in the face of hate.