Search

A Sobering Memorial

Brenda Tollefson
Apr 22, 2015
2 min read

This week marks the 20 year anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. In honor of this, we took a field trip to the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum. I visited this museum once before, about 5 years ago. Since then the museum has changed quite a bit. They now have interactive touch screens that you can read and view the stories of survivors and rescuers. I was there with two children (one of which needed a nap), so I didn’t get the full experience. Since I’ve been there before however, I was prepared and brought plenty of tissue. Even my son (who I think is an emotionless zombie) was near tears as one of the museum curators explained that there was a YMCA daycare, and how the bomber targeted the ATF building. I thought for sure he was going to lose it when he saw the pictures and stories of the military members who were involved. I think the military personnel hit home for him because daddy’s in the military. But when you look through the faces and stories of over 130 people who died and all the survivors who will never be the same again, you’re bound to connect to someone. The images inside the museum walk you through what happened that day. There are many sobering images that strike a chord. I thought I’d share a few images that I found particularly heartbreaking.

These images were some of the first taken as rescue missions began.

Although only 136 people died in the bombing, many more were injured and hospitalized. Looking at all the images, my son asked the obvious question, “Why would someone do that?” This is the only question the memorial didn’t answer. I think someone has to be truly broken to cause such pain. Timothy McVeigh was caught vary quickly after the fact, but what if he wasn’t. America could have witnessed even more tragedy. I couldn’t help but think about the victims that were trapped in the building for over 12 hours, or the ones who could have drown from the burst water main after having survived the blast. I think the hardest thing to swallow may just be the children who were injured in the blast and scared without a parent around to comfort them. I cannot imagine the tremendous amount of fear and pain that these people felt that day.

As heartbreaking as the museum was, my 7 year old took it very seriously and did an excellent job listening and paying attention (this is something he struggles with a great deal). And when we were finished they found plenty of ways to enjoy the beautiful outdoor memorial. As you can see below.

I normally wouldn't post quite so many pictures, but I felt this post needed more than the strokes of a keyboard to understand the importance of the museum and why I felt compelled to share this piece of our nations history with my children.