19 April 2020 is the 25th anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing.
I witnessed some of the behind-the-scenes relief activities that were in response to the bombing.
On 19 April 1995, I was a part-time employee of the Salvation Army’s social services center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The social services director was Jon Wallace, LCSW. His immediate superior was SA Major Glenn Fite, Sr., the SA’s Tulsa-area commander.
That morning shortly after 9 am, I was away from the social services center performing a task for Major Fite when I received an urgent message to return to the social services center. A few minutes earlier, Major Fite had received an emergency phone call from the Salvation Army’s Oklahoma headquarters in Oklahoma City.
As it turned out, the Salvation Army’s Oklahoma headquarters was just a few blocks away from the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. Upon hearing the bombing, the SA officers there ran toward the Murrah Building. They quickly assessed the chaos and then called in help. Thus, the Salvation Army in Tulsa was put into action.
My immediate task was to get the SA’s mobile canteen in Tulsa ready for use. My immediate supervisor was instructed to drive it to Oklahoma City. If I had been a full-time employee, then I would have went with him.
Never before or since have I been glad that I was employed part-time. That’s because the mobile canteen ended up parked inside the perimeter of the blast zone where nobody but rescue workers were allowed. Had I been there, then I would have witnessed the carnage.
Meanwhile, Jon Wallace was on his way to Oklahoma City. He would take charge of social services portion of the entire relief effort. Jon had knowledge and experience that leaders of other non-government relief agencies lacked.
SA Captain Don Vick of Tulsa was also sent to Oklahoma City. As the director of the SA’s adult rehabilitation center in Tulsa, his normal job was to help alcoholics gain sobriety. In Oklahoma City, he was given a much-more grim job. He was responsible for arranging the funerals for the bombing victims.
As a SA employee, I had to deliver relief supplies to the SA’s Oklahoma City headquarters. Upon reaching the building, I could see all of the nearby buildings that had their windows destroyed by the blast. I felt as if I had entered a war zone.
I did not return to Oklahoma City until 9 years later, when I worked elsewhere and took a company-sponsored trip to OKC. While there, my co-workers and I toured the OKC Bombing Memorial and Museum.
Here is a photo of the inside of the Memorial.
Each chair represents someone who died in the bombing. It is difficult enough to see 168 chairs. What is gut-wrenching is seeing the 19 little chairs that represent the children who were killed.
Click here to visit the website of the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum.
Featured Image from the FBI website.
Image of OKC Bombing Memorial from Library of Congress.
The “Wanted” posters say the following about David: “Wanted: A refugee from planet Melmac masquerading as a human. Loves cats. If seen, contact the Alien Task Force.”