Oklahoma City marks the 30th anniversary of 1995 federal building bombing.
By Bobby Ross Jr. | The Christian Chronicle
OKLAHOMA CITY — “We Will Never Forget.”
That message — scrawled on a police car, printed on a memorial program, vowed by politicians and ordinary people alike — became a mantra after the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.
The deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history killed 168 people — including 19 children — and injured hundreds.
Three decades later, nearly 500,000 people a year still visit the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum to “remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever.”
“We want to make sure that the 168 people who died are not forgotten, that the survivors are not forgotten, that the heroic rescue workers are not forgotten because of an attack by a coward,” said Kari Watkins, the memorial’s president and CEO.
The day of the bombing, Gulf War veteran Timothy McVeigh parked a yellow Ryder rental truck filled with 5,000 pounds of explosives outside the nine-story federal building and got into a getaway car. The timed fuse ignited at 9:02 a.m.
Related: ‘Most severely injured’ OKC bombing survivor overcomes evil with good
McVeigh and co-conspirator Terry Nichols were convicted in the bombing. McVeigh was executed in 2001. Nichols remains behind bars, serving a life sentence at the federal supermax prison in Florence, Colo.
Memorial leaders chose “A Day of Darkness, Years of Light” as the theme to commemorate the attack’s 30th anniversary.
This story appears in the online print edition of The Christian Chronicle.
Photo by Audrey Jackson
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