Survivors and loved ones of the victims remembered the 19th anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing on Saturday.
On April 19th, 1995, Timothy McVeigh detonated a truck bomb outside of the Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City.
The blast killed 168, many of whom were children, and injured more than 600.
Reportedly, the bomb McVeigh constructed with the help of his accomplice, Terry Nichols, was so powerful, that the blast was felt by people more than 30 miles away and damaged an area of more than 10 blocks in downtown Oklahoma City.
McVeigh was sentenced to the death penalty for his part in the attack and was executed in June 2001. Nichols was sentenced to life in prison for his involvement and is currently serving his life sentence at the ADX Florence, a super maximum security prison in Florence, Colorado.
Prior to the September 11th attacks, the Oklahoma City Bombing was the worst terrorist attack to occur on United States soil.
The sound of bagpipes filled the air on Saturday in downtown Oklahoma City as people gathered at the former site of the Murrah Federal Building to pay homage to the victims of the attack.
At the service, a 168 second moment of silence commemorated all of those who perished as a result of McVeigh and Nichols’ bomb.
A proper memorial site and museum has since been erected at the bombing site and many of those at the memorial service on Saturday remembered April 19th, 1995 as a bright, sunny day that turned into hell.
Just as this weekend will culminate with Easter, that week in April 1995 culminated with Easter, unfortunately, it was an Easter that many families will never forget.
Oklahoma governor Mary Fallin spoke at Saturday’s event and cited the city’s strength after the attacks. She said the attack brought together not only the great state of Oklahoma but an entire nation, a very similar sentiment that arose after the September 11th attacks.
Also at the memorial service, family and friends read aloud the names of their loved ones who were killed in the attack and adorned their loved ones’ memorial markers with flowers and Easter baskets.
For victims’ families and loved ones, Saturday was eerily similar to that infamous April 1995 day. The sun shone brightly amidst a blue sky just as it did 19 years ago, however, 19 nineteen years ago at 9:02 AM the sun stopped shining for people who had loved ones inside the Murrah Building.
Many children were killed in the attack due to the fact that the Murrah Building’s daycare center was located near where McVeigh parked his truck bomb. As a result, many parents who lost children in the attacks were left to wonder at Saturday’s memorial what life could have been for their children who died way too soon.
The Oklahoma City Bombing serves as a stern reminder that evil is not only bred offshore, but can evolve domestically as well.
