Oklahoma City remembers tragedy

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Families of the 168 people killed in the bombing of the Murrah federal building carried flowers and mementos 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 day care center. McVeigh was executed in 2001 for the crime; codefendant Terry Nichols was sentenced to life in prison.

The blast also damaged the church, shattering its stained glass windows.

On Saturday, Thompson sat beside Cathy Miller, whose father was killed when a hijacked airliner crashed into his 100th-floor office at the World Trade Center in New York. The two became friends a few days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks when Miller wrote an e-mail to the Oklahoma City National Memorial seeking help. Now they talk almost daily.

"I find it's really healing for me," said Miller. "We're not here for each other just on the sunny days."

Oklahoma City Police chaplain Jack Poe, who counseled rescue workers pulling bodies from the building, led the mourners in prayer. "Darkness can never, ever put out the light," he said. "We're always coming to this place with a prayer in our heart and tears in our eyes."

Afterward, the families rose one at a time, carrying bouquets of purple irises, sunflowers and roses to the symbolic chairs marking the spot where the building stood.

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