The other day I had the opportunity to take a tour of the National Memorial and Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. This is the site that was destroyed by a truck bomb back in 1995 by a couple of people who were upset with the FBI and the Federal Government because of a raid in Waco, Texas.

When you enter the museum and take the tour you're put into a room in which they play a recording of city or county meeting that was going on across the street from the old building. Then there there is this horrendous explosion and then the doors open in the museum. I wasn't sure what to expect but I quickly came to realize that it was not only a place to show you what had happened but more importantly educate you.
I remember that day, I was in a newsroom in Saginaw, Michigan, I had just finished my morning shift and I was getting ready to record my news for the rest of the day. Then suddenly the Associated Press bell started ringing on the wire telling me there was a major breaking news story. I remember the original reports were that it was believed a gas line had ruptured, but in the museum certain first responders recognized the obvious signs of a car bomb from their time in the military.
These images are shot outside there are two walls one at the east end one at the west the walls are constructed from old parts of the original building, at the top of the wall on the east end it says 9:01 at the west 9:03, its meant to represent that time stopped at 9:02 AM on that early spring day in 1995.
The chairs represent every person who died in the explosion including several children who were in the nursery in the federal building. There were five people who were outside the building and simply walking by when the explosion happened who also died

Comments