Families of the 168 people killed in the bombing of the 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 Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and gutted what remained, killing 149 adults and 19 children. Several hundred people packed the First United Methodist Church for the ceremony, which included 168 seconds of silence at 9:02 a.m. – the time Timothy McVeigh’s truck bomb exploded outside the building’s daycare center. McVeigh was executed in 2001 for the crime; codefendant Terry Nichols was sentenced to life in prison. Full Story
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