Oklahoma City remembers a tragedy

The Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah is called the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil

April 19, 2001
Web posted at: 1:01 PM EDT (1701 GMT)

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OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma (CNN) -- Relatives of 168 people killed in the bombing of an Oklahoma City federal building marked the sixth anniversary of the tragedy Thursday with a somber service.

At the site where the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building once stood and many lost their lives, relatives observed 168 seconds of silence, one for each person killed in the April 19, 1995 terrorist attack.

A month after the bombing, demolition experts brought down the remains of the federal building with controlled explosives.

GALLERY Painful memories in Oklahoma City    IN-DEPTH  • A shattering explosion  • Multimedia flashback  • Pain and memories persist  • Memorial images

A museum and memorial to the victims now occupies that space with 168 glass and bronze chairs, bearing the names of the victims. It includes 19 tiny chairs to represent the infants and toddlers, occupants of the building's child care center, who died.

Church bells pealed "Amazing Grace" to end the silence that chairman Rowland Denman warned "would feel like an eternity."

A clock from the building stopped at the moment of the explosion and is exhibited in the museum

"As we have for the past six years, we come together today to honor and respect those who were so senselessly taken from us, those who have persevered (through) so much pain and those who worked so selflessly to help on that terrible morning," said Robert Johnson, chairman of the board of trustees of the Oklahoma City National Memorial.

"Your loved ones have not been forgotten and the memorial is a fitting tribute to assure that they never will be," he said.

The ceremony included the reading of the names of the victims -- as each name was read, family members walked to the chairs to sit or place flowers and mementos.

"April is a very hard month for me to deal with," Dan McKinney, whose wife died in the bombing, said before the ceremony. "It used to be such a beautiful month. Now I wish we could just skip the whole month, it hurts so much."

Though a memorial has been held each year on April 19, this year it has gained added attention because of the impending execution of convicted bomber Timothy McVeigh.

Last week, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft met with those who want to witness McVeigh's May 16 execution and decided he would allow a viewing via closed-circuit television for survivors, family members and rescue workers.

The Justice Department released its plan for the viewing on Thursday, shortly after the memorial service. More than 250 people will be allowed to see McVeigh's execution at the training facility of the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City.

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Oklahoma City National Memorial

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