Diana Bradley's Explosion: A Short Story

around the world. The explosion took place at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in

I learned of what happened to the federal building in Oklahoma City until later that evening of April 19, 1995 from the evening news. It obviously was breaking news all day and it hit home for some people who knew workers there. The most heartbreaking were the lives of innocent children that were claimed in the bombing. Timothy McVeigh and his co-conspirator Terry Nichols were behind this treacherous attack in the U.S. On that day, the assault executed 168 individuals, 19 of them kids, and harmed more than 500. It was the biggest terrorist act at any point transpired on U.S. soil (CNN, 2001).

On September 11, 2001, I was seated in my third grade class at the age of eight years old. Every morning we had a “news” station that would automatically come on at 8:30 a.m. called Channel One News, tailored for children. However, after this five minute long news segment ended we started class. I remember commotion in the halls, and my teacher went out to see what was going on. She came back in, and immediately turned on the television that had just recently automatically shut off. There is was, a burning building, at the time I had no clue what was going

April 19, 1995, 9:02 a.m: a bomb was set off beneath the Alfred P. Murrah Building. The bomb damaged the structural support beams and the Northern support columns. Half of the building collapsed. 168 people died (Cook 5). Eric McKisick, a district manager, recalls the incident, ¨I made an assumption that, hey, everybody is out, everybody is good, and I left at that point. It wasn't ´till much later that I saw the devastation and understood they didn't respond because they couldn't.” Not only were there a large number of casualties, 300 people were also injured, some of whom were physically impaired for the rest of their life. A child who was in the building at the time of the explosion states, “I have no recollection of that day, but I’m reminded everyday about it because of my breathing problems (Brandes, Heide, Schapiro).”

From the street there were people screaming and running it was mass chaos. At this time you could see the media and firefighters everywhere. I got the hell out of there went home hugged my wife. I realized God had spared me that day. A lot of my friends and coworkers died that day. I’m truly sorry, sometimes I feel guilty that I didn’t do my part to help but I was afraid for my life. A couple of my friends that made it from a bit higher up said it sounded like a bunch of explosions. I remember thinking after hearing from them and seeing the video footage what the heck happened? In my opinion it felt like a bomb (Jones).

Thirty people were killed instantly. Eight later died from their injuries and hundreds of others were injured. A majority of the persons killed were messengers making deliveries, stenographers, clerks, and brokers (Gross, 2001).The blast was so strong it sent debris soaring as high as 34 floors and derailed a street car one block over(Andrews, 2014). Buildings shook as their large windows burst inwards. Luckily, most of the occupants inside were spared

A women by the name of Sheryl Ray witnessed this bombing happen. She claimed at 9:02 that day, “I glanced out of my office window for rain clouds, following what sounded like a very long and loud blast of thunder. The sunny sky I saw quickly contradicted what followed” (Ray). She had said the images were almost unbelievable because they looked so identical to a foreign war torn country (Ray). Ray being a nurse she was allowed into the site (Ray). She claimed, “After showing my business card to a police officer, I was allowed into the area. Hundreds of physicians and nurses, flanked by gurneys, wheelchairs, and medical supplies, stood anxiously outside the hospital’s emergency department waiting for yet another ambulance to arrive” (Ray). The first group of people she saw were the survivors all mangled and distressed, but she claimed they did not make a sound (Ray). This is because no matter how beat up or awful they looked, they were the lucky

At precisely 9:02 AM the bomb detonated ripping through the building’s north wall. Killing 168 people and wounding more than 680 others, it also destroyed nearly 324 nearby buildings. 19 victims were young children that attended the day care on the second story of the building, some of them as young as 6 months old. But incensed McVeigh was already 90 miles north.

On April 19th, 1995 a horrific terrorist attack on U.S. soil took place in the heartland of Oklahoma. The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma was targeted and was completely blown to pieces by one gigantic homemade bomb. The unimaginable had happened at the starting of a typical day at work. This day would be forever commemorated for the rest of America's history, unlike any other day until 9/11, as a prominent attack on the government of the United States.

It was a quiet spring day that turned into a day of tragedy, loss, and sadness. It was April 19th, 1995. The employees at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building were going about their daily business not knowing what would happen, it was 9:02 in the morning when it all had happened. The explosives went off and within seconds the whole entire federal building was in crumbles on the ground. Everyone was in shock of what had just happened, they wanted answers over who would have done this to innocent people. Timothy Mcveigh and Terry Nichols were very mad at the government for a couple reasons which led them to destroying the federal building.

At 9:02 a.m., a truck that Timothy McVeigh had rented, which was filled with all of the explosives, detonated in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The explosion was extremely powerful. It blew off the entire north wall of the building. Many buildings in the immediate area were also destroyed. The blast killed 168 people. 19 of the 168 people were young children who were in the building’s day care center during the time that the bomb went off. Along with the deaths, 650 other people were injured.

Tuesday morning of September 11, 2001 was a day that no one will forget. I decided to write it out what happened to my family that very day in my mom’s perspective to make it easier to understand. My mom was in Pleasant Hill, CA and decided to skip that day of work because my older sister was sick. Madeleine, my eldest sister, was two at the time. Early in the morning a family friend of ours, Janet, called my mom asking if she saw what was happening. Janet said,” Jeanne the twin towers are on the ground, turn on the news!” My mom was so tired from staying up all night because of Madeleine that when she heard what happened she didn’t belive it. She quickly turned on the news and it replayed the airplanes hiting the twin towers and falling.

When 9/11/2001 occurred I was sitting in the lunch room at Good Year Elementary School in Brunswick Georgia eating lunch. My classmates and I was talking normally like we always did until one of the lunch monitors told us to be quiet. I didn’t know exactly what was going on at the time. I just knew something serious had just happened. One of my teachers told the class that a plane had hit the Twin Towers. The teachers then turn on the television as all of us watch not exactly understanding what had happen or what the cause of it was. I remember some of the teacher crying while others got on their cells phones trying to contract their families in New York City, but the lines was so busy. That whole day I remember just sitting in class watching

For days, firefighters worked through the debris to find the survivors (Wheeler). These firefighters and police officers worked non-stop to save the injured (Wheeler). They also found only a few whole bodies, most were only body parts (Wheeler). Tending to people knee-deep in debris and hazardous smoke, firefighters still helped (Wheeler). Most of the paramedics worked thirty-six hour shifts, tending to the most severe injuries first (Wheeler). One doctor said, “This is a nightmare, we haven’t seen any wounded. You’re either going to walk out of there or your dead” (Wheeler). Through the fallen victims and heroes, there was still a considerable amount of damages.

On September 11, 2001, my life was interrupted when I heard the news of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade