16 years...

prettygirl06

People typically ask, "Where were you during the OKC bombing?" 

OKLAHOMA CITY -- It has been 16 years since the Alfred P. Murrah federal building was bombed in downtown OKC. April 19, 1995, 168 people perished in the bombing including 19 children.

Starting at 8:45 a.m., we will live stream the remembrance ceremony from the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum 

prettygirl06

I was 10 at the time and I was living back in my home state. I remember watching on the news with my family. I also remember thinking that a hotel was bombed, it wasn't until I was in middle school that I learned it was a federal building...

stripesandspots

I was a sophomore in high school. It happened when I was in band, I think.

I was new to Oklahoma and had no idea what was going on until I got home and turned on the news.  My first trip to downtown OKC was to check out the building with my parents...I had gotten glamour shots earlier in the day at Penn.

amanjay

I was old enough to remember (15) but don't actually have a clear image of when it happened in my head. I was living in another state and had never been to Oklahoma. The first I remember of it is the iconic image of the firefighter with the infant in his arms.

amidavey06

I was in 4th grade at the time. Although I lived in another state I remember hearing about it and seeing the pictures. I think the pictures are what stayed with me.

DH said that the week after it happened they had to come to the city (he grew up in S. Oklahoma) for a dr.'s appt and part of the building was still standing. He said it was the eeriest thing he has ever seen.

OSUWifey09

I was 9 and in 3rd grade when it happened. I was at a LARC in the Park event, and I remember feeling a little shake...but not thinking much of it. As the day wound on [we were at this thing most of the day], teachers started whispering and crying - two things you never want to see adults do when you're that age. We got back to school and went about the day, but it wasn't until I got home that my mom explained what happened.

We had moved to Oklahoma less than a year before that, so we had family members calling us all night, freaking out and wondering if we were anywhere near the bombing. I remember watching coverage and asking myself, "Who does something like that?" A couple of weeks later, my parents drove us to OKC and by the bombing. I'll never forget that night.

stripesandspots

amidavey06:

I was in 4th grade at the time. Although I lived in another state I remember hearing about it and seeing the pictures. I think the pictures are what stayed with me.

DH said that the week after it happened they had to come to the city (he grew up in S. Oklahoma) for a dr.'s appt and part of the building was still standing. He said it was the eeriest thing he has ever seen.

 

 

bluekid

I was in band with stripes and didn't really get what was going on until my next class period. 

oklagirl

I was 12, in 7th grade. My teacher mentioned something to another teacher about something blowing up on the bus to gym class (we were going to the bowling alley), but I didn't really catch what was happening. When we got to the bowling alley, it was all over the TVs there.

kayleeb

I was 7 and in first grade. I don't remember a whole lot. I do remember going home and seeing it on TV.

Steven&Jamie

I was in 7th grade, sitting in English class.  I remember where I was sitting, who I was by, etc.  Once the news broke we spent the rest of the day with the news on and we didn't switch classes, we just stayed where we'd been that morning.  Students kept making phone calls to check on family members, and some students, unfortunately, received phone calls.  

We found out later that night that a close friend of my aunt and cousin's was killed in the bombing (she was in the Secret Service), and my other aunt's uncle was killed (he was a US Marshall and witnesses said he went back in several times to get the babies out of the nursery).  I can't believe it's been 16 years....

lilsooner

I was 14 and going to English class when our teach turned on her TV.  I was freaking out because my mom was suppose to be with one of her reps down town that day.  Fortunately, she wasn't but my baby cousin was in the YMCA.  You can actually see the firefighters bringing her out of the Y in several documentaries.  She graduated high school last year and is a beautiful, well-adjusted young woman. 

fuzzylogic

I was in the 8th grade, and we were on our way to the state band contest in Stilly. We were in Norman, having breakfast at a McD's when the news came out. Someone had a radio on the bus and had picked up the coverage. We were devastated, and we wanted to help, but we went, performed, and instead of staying downtown in a hotel, the school board wanted us to come home.

There was a tornado on the way. It was about two miles from where we pulled the bus off the interstate. Not a good day.

I remember everything about that day, except the performance. I remember nothing on the music side of things. I remember everything else.

OULaw03

I was a junior in high school. I didn't hear about it until lunch. I was getting in a friend's car and heard it on the radio. 

I remember frantic phone calls from relatives in Korea. They hadn't been to Oklahoma, and they thought we were really close to the site.  

+buttercup+

I was in 8th grade history class. I remember we didn't do our lesson that day and just talked about how we would always remember that day. My biggest memory is when they imploded the rest of the building weeks later and feeling the ground shake.

jesseandbri

I was in 5th grade, I remember that we were studying clouds.  At first we thought it was a loud crash of Thunder but you could feel it...  

I remember that a couple of weeks following it my mom would leave after we would eat dinner.  She would go to the Myriad and serve meals to the workers.  She would come home in time to catch a couple hours of sleep and then would head back to work at 7 am.  We took a lot of trips downtown, my parents wanted us to be able to remember it, I am honestly thankful for that as scary as it was.

Future Navy Wife

I was in the fifth grade on a bus to the GT program in MWC. My mom had passed the week before. My dad had an appt with a lady in the building in the social security office at 9am. Fortunately I forgot my lunch money that day and my dad missed his appt. I remember the first reports we could hear on the school bus radio were that a plane had crashed into the county jail. I can still remember like it was yesterday. I had some friends parents who were part of the search and rescue teams and it changed them and still impacts them to this day. All of it is just so sad.