Oklahoma Ceremonies Honor Bomb Victims

The mournful skirl of a bagpipe pierced the air and state workers planted a whitebud tree in a memorial garden Friday in a pair of ceremonies honoring victims of the Oklahoma bombing one month ago.

A bass-voiced, uniformed state trooper sang a hymn and a bagpiper played “Amazing Grace” at an annual service to honor all law enforcement officers killed during the year. The ceremony focused on the 12 federal officers who died April 19 at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.

Joe Gallo, the Secret Service agent in charge in Oklahoma City, noted that the past weeks were filled with funerals and with waiting for the missing to be recovered.

At the ceremony, Gov. Frank Keating promised state as well as federal prosecution of those responsible: “Oklahomans have been grievously wronged. Oklahoma will see its day of justice.”

At a memorial at the state Department of Agriculture, Keating joined state workers who planted a whitebud tree in memory of seven U.S. Agriculture Department employees killed in the attack.

The tree was placed in the center of the Heartland Grove Memorial Park, a heart-shaped garden being erected in memory of the bombing victims. The garden includes small redbuds to represent the 19 children killed.

“They’re all beautiful,” said David Higginbottom, whose wife, Adele, was among the seven USDA workers killed.