Where were you on 4/19/1995?

[corpsman]

I was getting ready for my shift at Ma Bell when there was a dull, but powerful explosive sound followed by my house shaking. I went outside to check it out, saw the rising plume of smoke and called a neighbor. Her husband worked at the OG&E offices downtown and he called to tell her something had exploded. I turned on the TV and saw the helicopter transmissions. Went to work and saw images of a policeman slumped over his vehicle sobbing. A co-worker made a remark about it and I could only think about how young the officer was and that so very few in this country knew the destructive power and the devastation caused by a bomb. I remember listening to Carol Arnold broadcasting from the scene on KTOK when the first of the babies' bodies was carried out " Oh my God, no! The babies, the babies." She couldn't say anything for a while. Her humanity overrode her professionalism for a moment, but she did pick up her reporting again as soon as she regained her composure. All the vehicles on all the roads with their lights on, the cold, the rain, President Clinton, finding out that no family were physically hurt, but that a friend and a baby we went to church with were among the dead. Listening to snippets of the news coverage and the memorial service at the fairgrounds because there was work to do.......... Finally being able to let go of the pain and unshed tears at the hole in the ground on Memorial Day, thanking God we weren't in Britain or Ireland, Israel or Palestine, the former Yugoslavia, where these kinds of atrocities were an almost daily occurrence.....These are a few of my recollections

[Midtowner]

Bishop McGuinness HS, was supposed to be in band.

[theparkman81]

I was leaving 3rd hour 8th grade class at Allen Schools, when one of my friends came up to me and said that a bomb went off at the federal building in OKC, I didn't believe it at first, until I got to 4th hour class and we were watching it on TV, It was a very sad day for oklahomans.

[gen70]

I was at home in Bartow Fl. and trying to get ahold of my family in OKC.

[bombermwc]

Jr. High Science Class....folks on the other side of the school said they could feel it. I couldn't from my side. A teacher from across the hall runs into our class and turns on the TV and we see what happened. Most teachers left their tv's on through morning classes, but by the afternoon were trying to distract us.

[Ginkasa]

In first grade at Apple Creek Elementary. I don't know if I heard or felt anything (or if I would have been able to). I do remember seeing a lot more news than I ever had before and very vividly my view when my family and I went downtown to pay our respects.

[okcmomentum]

4th floor of the Midfirst building just west of I-44 and I-235. We heard a loud bang and the building shook. I'll never forget the guy in the cube across from me looking over and asking if that was a shotgun blast. We went to the south side of the floor and you could see the smoke billowing from downtown. Scary day for sure. Will never forget.

[dmoor82]

I was in class, in Westfall Elementary in Choctaw/NP,in 6th grade,and felt it! that far out!!!!!

[Steve]

NW 5 and Robinson. I never want to be in a place like that again.

[bigjkt405]

Classen SAS in AP Chemistry... I remember joking that the terrorists had blown something up... only to look out the window and see the cloud in downtown... Our building had shook really bad, then they herded all the students who had family at the courthouse (which they originally said at the school) to the cafeteria, to use the one phone to call their family.

[Architect2010]

I was out in the backyard being a toddler with my mom who was hanging clothes. We lived at Classen and NW 10th. Of course I don't remember it, but my mom said she felt it really profoundly and that it was extremely loud to the point that it terrified me.

[mugofbeer]

I was working in Dallas and saw it on the financial news wires as "explosion hits federal building in downtown Oklahoma City." My mom was in St. Anthony's with a heart bypass so I called her and she told me that it happened as she was being wheelchaired by a physical therapy room. She heard it and saw huge plate glass window panels wave like water on a lake, that a huge therapist fell on top of a patient when the glass above him cracked. They went to the window and saw the immediate aftermath and just stood there in awe. She said the building wasn't on fire but apparently the cars in front were. Then, within seconds they called a code for "expect a major catastrophe" over the loud speaker so she was wheeled very quickly back to her room.

[poe]

I was in 8th grade algebra class in Fort Smith. I remember our teacher (who was from Oklahoma) had the radio on. One of my friends' dad was actually on his way to the building when the bomb went off. Rather than attending his Social Security meeting, he had to identify colleagues that had perished, some of whom, he hired.

[ssandedoc]

Earlywine Elementary School in SW OKC in 4th grade taking a test. I was ten years old and will never forget. Today, I have the privilege of working for the Memorial, and have been for the past 3 years.

I will never forget.

[OSUMom]

I was about 4 or 5 blocks away. It took us a while to figure out that it wasn't us, our building that something happened to. We were thinking an air conditioner on the roof blew up, a truck hit us.... then finally someone looked out a window. Turned out my window had the best view of the building, but I was out of my office at the time and didn't go back for a while. I remember watching out that window, watching all the ambulances and fire trucks going toward the federal building, until they sent us home. And for days after that I watched hearses go by.

I remember the medical examiner at the time was a rock. Until the day he announced a tree being planted in front of their building and I think they were going to tie ribbons on it everytime someone was identified. When he, who had been such a rock, got emotional, wow that got me going all over again.

[fromdust]

seventh grade government class or history. dont remember,same teacher, tho. they say the rafters in the gym shook. a few minutes later a teacher wheeled in a tv and we just watched in awe.

[okcsince1987]

2nd grade at Wilson Elementary in OKC. Felt it faintly and shortly after parents started coming to get their kids from school. I'll never forget it. My friend lost his mother which was also my moms friend. RIP Judy Fisher.....

[bluedogok]

Britton & Broadway, third floor on the north window. We thought one of the news choppers had crashed or something since it felt like it was so close. Someone was listening to KTOK and we knew rather quickly something had happened, they had an employee who was driving somewhat close to there when it happened and he called in. My roommate worked for EMSA, he had just come off his 12 hour shift at 8:00am, I called him and he had already been paged to head downtown.

[bkm645]

I was in 1st grade at 27th and Santa Fe in Moore. I did not feel anything that I can remember. No one would tell me what was going on all day, but I knew something was wrong. All the teachers had radios up to their ears listening to the news and would not play with the kids. They were trying to hide the info from me since my mom worked downtown and they did not know if she was hurt. They finally called us into the gym at 2:30ish and told us what happened. My heart dropped because I thought about my mom. But, then before I had a chance to start crying my mother walked into the gym to tell me she was fine. I think they were waiting on her to show up to tell my class.

But, my mom would have been walking by the federal courthouse at that time if I had not delayed her that morning. She probably would have survived but probably would have been hurt from falling glass.

[Okiezmom]

I was working at the Alan Couch Juvenile Center in Norman. My boss called and he was frantic because his girlfriend worked at the Federal Courthouse. The first reports were that it was the building that was involved and he was going downtown to try to find her. I turned on the TV in his office to see what had happened and couldnt believe that was in Oklahoma City. It was completely surreal. I was glued to the television along with the rest of the staff and the kids. It was several hours before we heard from him. He had found her and she was okay; however, being in law enforcement, they had lost several friends. I've been to the memorial once when a friend was visiting from England. I haven't been able to go back.

[so1rfan]

I was going to the Office Depot at Reno and Air Depot when I thought someone ran into the back of my truck. I looked in the review mirror and didn't see anything. I got out and looked at my truck and couldn't figure out what happened. When I walked out of Office Depot I saw the pillar of smoke downtown. Rick and Brad were on the radio talking about an explosion downtown.

I immediately thought about the boiler room explosion at an elementary school years before and drove straight to Carls' Jr because I had to eat something before I could donate blood. I made it to the Oklahoma Blood Institute and was the 10th person in line.

The phones were ringing off the hook and the girls working there couldn't get anyone processed. So while I was standing there waiting, I just started answering the phone for them. Three other people did the same. One of the girls showed us how to enter people into the system and soon all of the clerical duties were being handled by volunteers so the staff could draw blood. I stayed there until 9pm. I never saw any of the TV coverage that day.

I went back about a week later and finally got to donate that pint of blood.

[Spartan]

NW 5 and Robinson. I never want to be in a place like that again.

Wow, you were in the Journal Record Bldg?

[ljbab728]

I was in my office at Rockwell and NW Expwy talking on the phone. I thought there had been a car wreck outside until someone came into my office and told me to turn on the television.

[OKCisOK4me]

I was 100% Okie before that school year when I had moved to Missouri to live with my mom who had moved there the year before...

We,our sophomore high school class, had not learned of it until just after lunch & even then AND up there, we just watched the coverage the rest of the day. When I got home, I had no clue what of my family or friends who might have been affected so I tried to call but to no avail as "all circuits are busy". It was three or four days at least before I was able to get through. I heard so many stories of that day: my friend at Edmond North was in a science class and a beaker rolled off a table, fell to the floor and broke. My stepmom's shop at 63rd & Western had the back door blow open with a rush of wind. My Dad's office at NW Expressway & May, he said it felt like a deep rumble of thunder--the kind that shakes your windows and walls. Another friend, his dad was near the site on a call, his windshield on his truck imploded. All unreal. The craziest to me was that my older sister's ex boyfriend from HS, his dad was in the building when it happened & he actually crawled out on a fire fighter laddar from one of the higher floors.

I was not here in state but I felt, 425 miles away, as if I were as equally affected by it as all my friends & family here.

[EBAH]

I was in class @ Monroney Jr. High in MWC, I was in 9th grade. I remember making light of it as well, until finding out what had actually happened (and being yelled at by a teacher).