I’m sure most of us remember where we were!
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I don't even remember where I was yesterday...
At work, in my office, blissfully unaware of what had happened until I called our rep at a company in OKC. He asked how I got through, and I told him I'd just picked up the phone and dialed his number. That's when I learned about it.
Yes I remember quite well. I was headed to the FHA office to retrieve some FHA mortgage insurance certifications and to meet with Colleen and Castine who both died in the bombing. I was 10 minutes out when the bomb went off. Lost many friends with FHA that horrible day. Some things you never forget...
I’d just gotten off a plane in Hawaii with my then fiancé, when people started offering us condolences when they found out we’re from Oklahoma. We had no idea what had happened until then.
I think he turned out to be a friend of a guy in Manhattan, KS that rented the same truck the day before McVeigh/Nichols
Here is my contribution.
We recorded motel lists as an SOP. We wrote tags down and ran them as tests not an actual query through NCIC because you had to be present with the tag when doing so in case of a hit.
This test was noticed by the FBI and it turned out to be my list since I was south side officer that night and all of our lists are filed for future reference. I was briefly interviewed by this agent. She told me Nichols registered under his name and our list was a big help in tracking their whereabouts. On this particular trip, they were en route to Kingman, Arizona.
I was working in Pittsburg TX in 1995 when the OKC bombing was committed, and 29 years ago today, I lived in Waco when the FBI attacked and burned the Branch Davidians compound and killed 83 people.
I was working in Fort Wayne Indiana for a few days, (I lived in OKC then and still do today, just happened to be there).
I woke up in my hotel room and turned on the TV. I thought it was weird that the OKC TV people were on the air in Fort Wayne, (I'm talking about the local Fort Wayne TV Stations, not some big national media station) but I just figured that they no longer worked in OKC and had got a job in Fort Wayne. 1995 was really pretty much before the Internet and such, and people just didn't have the instant access and continual barrage of news that we have today.
I had the sound off, (I didn't yet heard/see about the Murrah Building, and changed channels.) Wow I saw more OKC TV folks. Flipped the channel again and wow more OKC TV people.
Finally got the remote figured out and turned the sound on. It took me a few minutes to process and understand what had happened, it was so unbelievable. Turned the channel again and saw Linda Cavanaugh (CH 4) and stopped there to watch.
I didn't get back to OKC for, I think it was 5 or 6 days. Utterly shocked.
Fast forward to a couple of years ago. I was at the Wellness Center, an OKC MAPS project, at NW 115th & Rockwell and saw a flyer to attend a lecture given by a survivor of the bombing. I attended it, and it was just amazing and captivating to hear this guy talk about what he was doing that morning, how and why he was in a building very close by, and what he experienced, and how it has affected him.
His name is Ed Eckenstein, you can google his name and learn more about him. If/when he gives a talk again, you should go and listen. It made such an impact on me that I've not forgotten his name.
I woke up in my hotel room and turned on the TV. I thought it was weird that the OKC TV people were on the air in Fort Wayne, (I'm talking about the local Fort Wayne TV Stations, not some big national media station) but I just figured that they no longer worked in OKC and had got a job in Fort Wayne. 1995 was really pretty much before the Internet and such, and people just didn't have the instant access and continual barrage of news that we have today.
I had the sound off, (I didn't yet heard/see about the Murrah Building, and changed channels.) Wow I saw more OKC TV folks. Flipped the channel again and wow more OKC TV people.
Finally got the remote figured out and turned the sound on. It took me a few minutes to process and understand what had happened, it was so unbelievable. Turned the channel again and saw Linda Cavanaugh (CH 4) and stopped there to watch.
I didn't get back to OKC for, I think it was 5 or 6 days. Utterly shocked.
Fast forward to a couple of years ago. I was at the Wellness Center, an OKC MAPS project, at NW 115th & Rockwell and saw a flyer to attend a lecture given by a survivor of the bombing. I attended it, and it was just amazing and captivating to hear this guy talk about what he was doing that morning, how and why he was in a building very close by, and what he experienced, and how it has affected him.
His name is Ed Eckenstein, you can google his name and learn more about him. If/when he gives a talk again, you should go and listen. It made such an impact on me that I've not forgotten his name.
A few years ago, I met an OSA member that i remember as being an extremely nice man, south of OKC if I remember correctly, who was with the phone company assigned to work with the FBI during the recovery efforts, and another good friend who is a pastor who worked as one of the many chaplains during those days. Difficult memories.
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