The Oklahoma City Bombing

Family photo 2006

Me and Bobby from the Brady Bunch at the site of the blast. He was filming a documentary about Okc and the events that took place there.

The Murrah Building as it stood before it was brought down.

The YMCA building which was on the North East of the Murrah was heavily damaged was torn down and turned into a parking lot for visitors to the memorial.

This was the Athenian restaurant that was across the street from the Murrah.

This is the back side of the Regency Apartments the red circle is my apartment on the 18th floor, same floor as Bailey Almond and the Coverdale boys, my neighbor was this old man by the name of Charles a very interesting character to say the least! his face told a million stories with it being as leathered like a suit case, he claimed to have been a retired jazz band musician from the early days of Oklahoma Cities Deep Deuce era located just east of down town. This area is now part of Brick Town the entertainment district. In 1995 the area had not revived itself yet, the city was in the process of selling off old ware houses to be converted into restaurants, bars and gift shops! Today, Brick Town is the place to be in Oklahoma City.

Whenever you visit the Memorial your going to see two bronze walls one on the East side and one on the West side that have time on them reading 9:01 and 9:03 the middle, between the walls represent 9:02 which in when the bomb went off.

I did this blog for many reasons and the biggest reason is for me to share with you the experience of having been there through pictures and the stories behind them! Over the years I have collected some beautiful pieces of photography either given to me or some that I have ran across and try to look at these photo’s with a deferent perspective and you may wonder why? When the bombing of the Murrah Building happened it left and it took from every body so, to see the living art of another human being through the pain of another is yet unique and tragic on all the same page and to know your still here and that life does go on is a wonderful thing.

I also had the chance to meet and thank Oklahoma City Assistant Fire Chief Jon Hansen.

Here is the story behind this photo, it was taken at a fun raiser anybody who was anybody was there as in this picture I’m with Larry Jones of feed the children. Anyhow I was invited to this event but had nothing to wear to it so a local deli had some costume wear with a bowtie and that is why I look so ridiculous. I did get to meet Larry Jones and personally thank him and his organization for what he had done.

This photo was taken the night they reopened the Regency Apartment building some months later.

As we stood at the corner of Broadway and 5th we could here an APB go out over the speaker of a parked police car, they said they where looking for a older model Brown or Black truck possibly heading North.

Days and months following the blast several groups that represented a variety of Governmental agencies came forward with assistance the paper work was very complex to say the least, some days it would take you all day just to fill out one document or to recover property.

When you visit the Memorial you will have the wondering experience of being apart of the survival tree which is located on the North side of the reflecting pond, this tree survived it all from being hit with debris to being on fire.. I’ve heard that they sell seedlings from the tree in the Museum.

More than a month after the bombing at 7:01 am on May 23rd the Murrah Federal Building was demolished, the final three bodies, these of two credit union employees and a customer were recovered I was not present the day of demo.

This photo is very unique for one simple reason! It was taken form inside the Murrah looking north at the Journal Record Building which is now the Memorial Museum! So, if you ever visit the site remember this view as you look North.

Minutes before the blast Tim McVeigh drove the Ryder Truck past my building which is approximately 100 yards from the Murrah. This photo was taken from the video camera located in the lobby of my building. As you can see the Ryder Truck is in the back ground.

Another photo I took on one of my many visits to the site. The chairs represent where the casualties were found.

Rescue worker’s prepare to enter the building.

This is a photo of the slab or section of the building that pan caked.

Must we never forget those who lost their life in this tragedy! A list of those we lost. May God be with them. Aleman Jr., Lucio, 33 Alexander, Teresa, 33 Allen, Richard Arthur, 46, Yukon Allen, Ted Leon, 48, Norman Almon, Baylee, 1, Midwest City Althouse, Diane E. (Hollingsworth), 45, Edmond Anderson, Rebecca, 37 Argo, Pamela Cleveland, 36, Oklahoma City Avery, Saundra "Sandy", 34, Midwest City Avillanoza, Peter, 56 Battle, Calvin, 62 Battle, Peola, 51 Bell, Danielle Nicole, 15 months Biddy, Oleta Christine, 54, Oklahoma City Bland, Shelly Turner, 25 Blanton, Andrea Y., 33, Oklahoma City Bloomer, Olen Burl, 61 Bolden, Army Sgt. 1st Class Lola Renee, 40, Birmingham, AL Boles, James E., 51 Bolte, Mark A., 27 Booker, Cassandra Kay, 25, Oklahoma City Bowers, Carol Louise, 53, Yukon Bradley, Peachlyn, 3, Oklahoma City Brady, Woodrow "Woody" Clifford Brady, 41, Oklahoma City Brown, Cynthia Lynn (Campbell), 26 Broxterman, Paul G., 43 Bruce, Gabreon DeShawn Lee, 4 months B

This is a photo I took some years later on a visit to the site. If you ever go to the memorial you’ll see two gold walls on each end of the memorial one with 9:01 and the other with 9:03 writing at the top of each wall, What this represents is between the walls is 9:02 which was when the bomb went off. So, in the middle is where time stopped hence 9:02.

Oklahoma City Fire Department’s ladder truck moving into position, this photo is from the West looking East.

Obviously heavy equipment was needed for the removal of debris! This is a track hoe with a grappler and what it does is grab large chunks of cement, rebar, rocks etc. it has the ability to move 360 degrees in full circle. In other words it can pick up an object that is in front of it, circle around and drop it directly behind itself.

This photo is from inside the Murrah! It pretty much tells the story itself.

The top photo is basically rescue in progress! Your looking East. The second photo is the Water Resource Building which cradled the Athenian Restaurant just on the other side of it, In the foreground is the YMCA all three of these buildings are gone. Third photo is basically the same photo as two but just turned a little towards the East.

This building was used as a temporary morgue as grim as it sounds the refrigerator trailers you see is what housed those who lost their life. Fortunately the building is a church.

First Aid tents where set up on the corner of Broad Way and 5th street.

A photo I took while at the site 10 years later.

You are now looking from the West end of 5th street.

This photo was taken by me from the East end of 5th street.

Part of a four page subpoena I received during the Terry Nichols Trial 2004.

This photo was taken at the 10yr anniversary I was with Janie Coverdale and Kathy Sanders both lost their grand kids Chase & Colton Smith, Aaron & Elijah Coverdale.

Again this was a photo I took before I went in to my apartment.

This photo was taken by me on a rare day I was able to go back to my apartment.

This was taken from the rear of the building from the best I can tell that’s me circled.

During the time the residents of the Regency where displaced every so often the would allow you to come down and retrieve some of your belongings out of your apartment and this was a very rare occasion. However the first time I went I snapped this photo. They had armed guards and a red cross volunteer take you from the ground floor to your apartment. On this particular trip I was unable to get anything because someone had gone through my belongings and took what they needed.

This photo was taken at night looking into the Murrah.

This image is one I live with, this is what I saw coming up to the blast site. can't say where I was when this was taken?

This is where I found myself, in the rear of the Murrah Building what this scene is, is volunteers me being one of them would line up on a stair case, as the fire fighters pulled the remains from the building they would motion for people to come up and carry them off the site. I left this site around 9 pm only to figure out I had no place to go! So, I walked some 12 blocks away to the church where I remained for the next 14 weeks.

10 years later Me with friend Janie Coverdale at the site.

While I was at the 10 year anniversary of the Bombing. I was with Janie Coverdale my neighbor, she lost two grandsons Elijah and Aaron and let me tell you those boys where a hand full I would play with them in the hall and they had this crazy knack to knock on my door and run to grandma, where she in turn would promptly tell them to leave me alone. Any how during this visit I was ask by a reporter if I would do an interview about my account prior to the blast that took so many. To make along story short I was subpoenaed to the Terry Nichols trail about this account however I did not testify for reason to long for me to explain here, After the trail Terry came out in a jail house confession my story happen to come out the same day his did. This is the article that ran that morning.

This was part of the News Article from the Dallas morning News on October 3rd 1995.

One thing you need to understand is that being that close to such an event will attract people to you, the Lady on the far left is Liz Massey she was the Red Cross volunteer that worked in the Church I was staying in Liz later on went to MSU and became a reporter for the school she did write a couple of stories with me. The other two are reporters from Boston. They treated us to a night out at a local pub.

Photo taken hours after the blasts.

This view is from the Murrah Building somewhere around the 5th or 6th floor.

Every time I travel to Oklahoma City I visit the site for personal reasons and promises I have made. One after noon late in the day I went to the site for my promises and wishes and as I walked into the memorial this was the scene, a very peaceful one.

This photo was taken when I finally was able to move back in to the Regency Apartments, what was so strange about the move in was they had started with the top floors 24 going down. I had opted to take an apartment on the 23 floor! So, they would move you days apart from the rest of the floors. For example 24, 23, 22 could move in on this week and then a few weeks later they would allow 21, 20 and so on depending on the damage to the floor, some floors went unoccupied for months, then there was the residents that would never return. So, move in day was a media event to say the least, I myself was photographed and interviewed by the Dallas Morning News, they went as far as coming up into my apartment and photographed it as well. The first few weeks living there immediately took a toll on the mental state of mind, the building itself would make noises, I felt like it was moaning from what had taken place just a few hundred feet from where it stood, at night time it would whistle, this co

This was the view from the Regency Apartments ground level looking East on 5th street.