Oklahoma City Victims Are Honored

Families of the 168 people killed in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building carried flowers and mementoes Saturday to the spot where their loved ones died eight years earlier and gave a standing ovation for the men and women fighting the war on terrorism.

A thunderstorm forced the anniversary ceremony indoors, but the rain subsided in time for a solemn walk to the field of symbolic stone, glass and bronze chairs at the Oklahoma City National Memorial.

“This morning’s weather is typical of our lives,” said Ken Thompson, who lost his mother in the bombing. “We’ve been in a dark time and we’re able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

The explosion on April 19, 1995, tore the front off the nine-story federal building and gutted what remained, killing 149 adults and 19 children.

Several hundred people packed First United Methodist Church for the ceremony, which included 168 seconds of silence at 9:02 a.m. -- the time Timothy J. McVeigh’s truck bomb exploded outside the building’s day-care center. McVeigh was executed in 2001 for the crime; co-defendant Terry L. Nichols was sentenced to life in prison.

The blast also damaged the church, shattering its stained-glass windows.

On Saturday, Thompson sat beside Cathy Miller, whose father was killed when a hijacked airliner crashed into his office at the World Trade Center in New York. The two became friends a few days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks when Miller wrote an e-mail to the Oklahoma City National Memorial seeking help. Now they talk almost daily.

“I find it’s really healing for me,” Miller said. “We’re not here for each other just on the sunny days.”

The crowd gave a standing ovation for the men and women fighting the war on terrorism. Oklahoma Air National Guard Gen. Rita Aragon received an American flag from the memorial and took one for Army Gen. Tommy Franks, the Oklahoman who is leading the war in Iraq.

Afterward, the families rose one at a time, carrying bouquets of purple irises, sunflowers and roses to the symbolic chairs where the federal building stood.

“It does get easier after eight years, but leading up to this week is always shaky,” said Malissa McNeely, whose 6-month-old nephew, Antonio Cooper, was killed in the building’s day-care center.

Manuela Torres stood beside a chair for her brother, Emilio Tapia, and wiped tears from her eyes. She left behind two bunches of daisies.

“We still remember, but it’s a little easier now,” she said.