30 years ago in OKC..

[crawdadking]

Netflix has documentary on the that.

Just finished watching it. Such a senseless tragedy

[RangerDude85]

April 19, 1995 OKC bombing
April 19, 1993 end of Waco standoff, McVeigh was a "spectator" during the event
April 19, 1775 was the start of the American Revolutionary War with the battles of Lexington and Concord.

[ProVle]

My wife worked for IRS in Cinti/N.Ky all the Federal buildings went to lock down that day.

[OkieBud]

Dang hard to believe that it is gone by that quick and to the guys who I knew that lost their life and 2 other friends was running behind and spared.

[fr8dog]

I was putting bookshelves in an upstairs room. Came down for a minute and felt the house shake. I thought one of them fell over. Checked and they were fine so i guessed one of the fighter guys got a little too fast on the way into Tinker.

Lost a couple neighbors and a few folks from the church.

[GClark519]

I think the weekend after I was fishing a tournament in Oklahoma. Leaving Kansas entering Oklahoma everyone driving had their headlights on. Miss the days when we all came together!

[JR19]

I remember the bombing and I also remember the chilling words McVeigh had to say after it was over..."sometimes you gotta give dirty to the dirty". Although I can't say that's a bad thing to say for a single individual but not buy the means of killing hundreds of innocent people.

If my memory is correct that bombing change the way people could buy fertilizer. Its hard to believe what a van full of fertilizer and diesel fuel will do.

[spoon33]

I was in Jr high that day in OKC and we had just switched classes, got settled in and our desk and chairs rattled. A few minutes later they announced over the intercom if you had a parent who worked downtown, please report to the office. My dad had an office downtown, but I was unsure of his phone number at work back then. The office told us all to return to class and they would let us know when we they got ahold of our parents.

Thankfully my dad wasn’t downtown that day, and was at a clients office outside of OKC we later found out.

[Lcp3557]

I was in South Korea. sad day for sure.

[bzbrent]

I was tying my tie and getting ready to chaperone my daughter's fourth grade class to the OKC Symphony. An hour of so difference in timing and we would have been driving with in a block of the devastation on the way to the Civic Center.

I drove a school bus for Putnam City Schools while in college. That morning I was driving bus #102 out of Downs Elementary loaded with 5th graders heading to the Civic Center for the exact same deal you were going to. We were supposed to arrive at 9:00, but were running behind schedule. I’d just exited onto Western off I-40 when the transportation director, who was already at the Civic Center, came on the radio and told all buses still in route to return immediately to their school. It wasn’t until I dropped the kids off and was heading back to transportation building that I was able to turn on the radio and learn what had happened.

-b-

[Klinger N Ok]

Sitting in a UCO organic chem class with south facing windows when the windows rattled and you could feel a pressure change. Between classes we heard that someone had blew up the courthouse or federal building downtown OKC and the gravity of the moment didn't register till later in the day when we received more details.
I'd been in the Murrah building a week or two prior with a roommate and seeing the building a week or so after the bombing was crazy, almost unreal. Such a senseless tragedy. Can't believe it's been that long ago.

[sooner1_us]

Ive lived in Eastern OK my whole life, and I was a Freshman in High School. I still remember being in Algebra class. My teacher was originally from the OKC area. How he found out, Im not sure, but he wheeled in one of those tv cabinets on wheels, and we pretty much stayed in his class all day watching the local news. Sad day and I remember not being able to really understand why, I guess sometimes there are things that dont make much sense or cant comprehend the thoughts of others. Anyways like a few of yall have said, time flies, I still remember it like it was yesterday.

[borderbasser]

I was in Atlanta working in a door factory and production was way behind that day with everyone glued to the television set in the break room. A lot of lives lost that day for no reason.

[BigFishSteve]

Crazy person could be anywhere, anytime. Evil exists. Crazy exists. But take comfort in knowing that hood is much more common.

[Spinnerb8]

I started tis thread and mentioned losing my FIL. At the time, most didn't have any type of cellular device but obviously home phones. My FIL was a field investigator for the Department of Agriculture. I was teaching in a school about 10 miles from the bomb site and heard and felt the blast very plainly. I was watching the news when my wife at the time called my office and said, "I think that was my dads building." I told her that I thought she was right, but I was sure that he was ok because he RARELY went to the office. I immediately left work and headed home. As the day wore on, we didn't hear from him and obviously began to worry. His call never came. We later learned that the director had called a meeting that day where 7 Department of Agriculture employees died. One of the things I remember the most was trying to get to downtown OKC the evening of the 19th and it being blockaded from every direction. I parked over a mile away and tried to walk. At one point I was stopped by armed members of the National Guard I believe who told me that the area was under martial law and that I would have to turn around. I never made it down there. My FIL was the 158th body found and identified if I remember correctly, almost a month later.

[SoonerFan]

I drove a school bus for Putnam City Schools while in college. That morning I was driving bus #102 out of Downs Elementary loaded with 5th graders heading to the Civic Center for the exact same deal you were going to. We were supposed to arrive at 9:00, but were running behind schedule. I’d just exited onto Western off I-40 when the transportation director, who was already at the Civic Center, came on the radio and told all buses still in route to return immediately to their school. It wasn’t until I dropped the kids off and was heading back to transportation building that I was able to turn on the radio and learn what had happened.

-b-

WOW Brent, that almost brings tears to my eyes how close we both came to being in the middle of all that. A morning we both will never forget.

My sister-in-law was in the corner office in the SW Bell building, one block to the north. Her building was shielded from the direct blast by the building across the street from the Murrah Building but she was knocked out of her chair (she's a big girl too) and had to go to the ER to get glass out of her face. She was pretty emotionally shook up too...as was the whole city.

My wife was in Dallas at a seminar. Flights were canceled and she had to stay an extra day or two.

[borderbasser]

That documentary about the bombing on Netflix is a decent watch. Shows folks just going to work, taking part in their daily routine and the lives ended in an instant. A total tragedy.

[lugbolt]

it can happen anywhere at any time

our LEO's do a pretty good job but for a lot of reasons they can't protect everyone from everything, unfortunately.

I work alongside a guy who's on the bobsquad and we were talking about this deal the other day. People have no idea (which is probably a good thing) about how much 'danger' is running around out there, and before anyone starts pointing fingers, it's from everywhere and nothing we can do about it. They're just waiting for the right time and place. That team is training on IND's now, and has been for over a year. I have asked if there was a specific threat and I didn't get any straight answers, just saying that there are people here who have the knowledge to use those devices. That bothers me. I got some answers, nothing "straight" other than the types that they have access to--but what struck me the most was when he said that we all have a duty to keep an eye out for things. If we see or hear of someone bringing odd chemicals home, it might be the right thing to do, to make it known to the right people that something isn't right. Remember too that some of the materials needed to do real damage are commercially available (and don't ask anymore than that, I am not going to tell what I've learned). OKC showed us that.

OKC deal was horrible for sure, and I and millions of others, didn't forget. We remember and honor the innocent who lost their lives and the many responders who did what they could to help the injured.

[jbassman87]

terrible day for sure. Can't tell you what I was doing that day, but I can remember the stories on the TV. When they caught the two responsible, I was wondering why they were taken alive.

[Rider99XX]

I was at work when the bombing occurred. My boss's daughter and her family lived in Oklahoma City at that time and she called her mom to let them know they were ok.