We left our nice cozy spot at Belle Starr and headed east to Oklahoma City where we camped at the Fairgrounds.
One of the main reasons we are here is to see the Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum.
“The Oklahoma City National Memorial is a memorial in the United States that honors the victims, survivors, rescuers, and all who were affected by the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995. The memorial is located in downtown Oklahoma City on the former site of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which was destroyed in the 1995 bombing. This building was located on NW 5th Street between N. Robinson Avenue and N. Harvey Avenue.”
Before I start, this was the building right after it was bombed:
Just horrible! Think of all those folks that were in offices just doing their job plus a daycare in the building and then the bomb goes off.
When we first walked up to the museum we saw these huge bronze gates. One was marked 9:01 (representing the last moments of peace) and the other was 9:03 (representing the first moments of recovery).
The reflecting pool and the Journal Record Building that houses the museum. The Journal Record Building was located behind the building that was bombed.
This was the toughest to see – the Field of Empty Chairs.
“168 empty chairs hand-crafted from glass, bronze, and stone represent those who lost their lives, with a name etched in the glass base of each. They sit on the site where the Murrah Building once stood. The chairs are arranged in nine rows to symbolize the nine floors of the building; each person's chair is on the row (or the floor) on which the person worked or was located when the bomb went off. The chairs are also grouped according to the blast pattern, with the most chairs nearest the most heavily damaged portion of the building. The westernmost column of five chairs represents the five people who died but were not in the Murrah Building (two in the Water Resources Board building, one in the Athenian Building, one outside near the building, and one rescuer). The 19 smaller chairs represent the children killed in the bombing. Three unborn children died along with their mothers, and they are listed on their mothers' chairs beneath their mothers' names.”
Remaining portions of the walls were incorporated into the outdoor memorial.
“Survivor Tree: An American elm on the north side of the Memorial that was heavily damaged by the bomb, but survived. Hundreds of seeds from the Survivor Tree are planted annually and the resulting saplings are distributed each year on the anniversary of the bombing. Thousands of Survivor Trees are growing in public and private places all over the U.S.”
The inside of the museum was set up like a timeline of that day from right before 9 AM thru the months afterwards. We started with a few orientation films for the museum and what was scheduled for that day. They had a recording of a hearing that started at 9 and you could hear the bomb go off at 9:02 and the confusion afterwards.
The museum told the story from the initial blast, thru the rescues of that day, thru the survivor stories and ended with the trial.
Some of the items that were salvaged from the rubble:
The area of damage:
Nearly every window in the 11-story Southwester Bell office tower was blown out by the force of the bomb blast. It was located one block north of the Murrah Building. In their second building located two blocks north, all the windows were shattered.
The south half of the Journal Record Building’s roof was blown off.
Can you imagine what it must have been like for those in the buildings, the surrounding areas, and the survivors waiting for word of their loved ones… Oh my, this was so sad!
The Crater:
Think about that – 312 buildings across the downtown were damaged.
Our final stop was to the outdoor sculpture of Jesus weeping. It is located across the street from the bombed building. Jesus faces away from the devastation, covering his face with his hand. In front of Jesus is a wall with 168 gaps in it, representing the voids left by each life lost.
It was a very emotional visit and I am glad we did this. If you get this way, please stop. May this never happen again.
Stay tuned for Part 2
Stats for November 28, 2021
Miles Traveled: 130 Miles
Routes Traveled:
Oklahoma: N4200 Road; SR-150; US-69; I-40; May Street; Black Mesa Drive; Land Rush Street
