Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial Museum!

Americans will come here and be better people for having walked through the Memorial Museum.--President George W. Bush on February 19, 2001, dedication of Memorial Museum

We will never forget. One hundred sixty-eight lives were lost that bright, sunny morning more than nine years ago. Children lost moms and dads; brothers lost sisters; mothers and fathers lost innocent, irreplaceable children, including unborn children.

We will not forget because, in this nation, we are dedicated to the fundamental belief that every life is precious. We remember the achievements, the dreams, and the potential of those who were lost. And it is because we hold every life precious that this nation will never bow to terror.--Attorney General John Ashcroft, on May 3, 2004, dedication of Federal Building

I took a short trip to Oklahoma this past week and was able to go to the OKC Bombing Memorial. I, like anyone else that was alive at the time, remember exactly where I was at the time it happened. I was a new Mom at home and my husband called me and told me to turn on the TV.

Yet, this was before I became a political/current events junkie, so I didn't pay much attention to the details. As a result, I learned a lot going through the museum, as did my 14 year old son who was with me.

I was amazed at several things:

--168 people died
--That more than 300 buildings were damaged or destroyed
--850 people were injured
--How quickly they were on the trail of Timothy McVeigh

The Survivor Tree
This 90 year old American Elm survived the bombing, and is therefore now called the Survivor Tree.


This message was spray painted on the wall of the Journal Record Building by a team of rescue workers.


I bought the above book, The Official Record of the Oklahoma City Bombing and I'm already half way through it. It is a great, detailed account of what happened with plenty of pictures and short biographies of each of the 168 people who lost their lives.