THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, April 24, 1995 TAG: 9504240048
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: OKLAHOMA CITY LENGTH: Long : 119 lines
They came in coats, ties and creased trousers; in T-shirts, jeans and scuffed boots. They came clutching Bibles, flags and blue ribbons; with flowers, pictures and welling tears.
They came with children who lost parents, parents who lost children, brothers who lost sisters, husbands who lost wives.
They came to see President Clinton. To hear Gov. Frank Keating. To pray with the Rev. Billy Graham.
And, as the president said, the nation prayed with them - the Oklahomans whose lives were shattered by a bomb Wednesday morning.
``Today, our nation joins with you in grief,'' Clinton said. ``We mourn with you. We share your hope against hope that some may still survive.'' And he promised every effort ``to bring to justice those who did this evil.''
On Sunday - the National Day of Mourning for the scores of confirmed dead and the 150 still believed entombed in the bombed-out Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building - Oklahomans by the thousands came to the State Fair Arena under broken clouds, with broken hearts. To hope for a miracle. To grieve for the dead. To offer support for the injured.
``I can't imagine anything more important than to be here,'' said Rose Benear, a mother of three. Like most of the people in line with her, she knew no one who died in Wednesday's attack, except to call them neighbors.
At noon, still three hours before the prayer service began, Benear was at the end of a mile-long line of Oklahomans snaking through the state fairgrounds. Another line led a half-mile toward another door. In three minutes, 30 more people queued behind her. The line of mourners grew to at least 20,000, and half eventually filled the arena.
And while they bowed their heads in sorrow, they also lifted their voices in praise for the hundreds of firefighters and rescue workers who came to this city to help local crews cope with the disaster - among them, the Hampton Roads search-and-rescue squad on its first national deployment.
Virginia Beach Fire Chief Melvin Mathias, one of the supervisors of the 56-member task force deployed here since Thursday, accepted private thanks from Clinton with other representatives of the six FEMA urban search-and-rescue teams.
The president also met with the Oklahoma state trooper who arrested Timothy J. McVeigh, the 27-year-old man who is now charged in the bombing.
``(Clinton) said he was very proud of the local firefighters and the teams,'' Mathias said. ``He said, `Thanks for the job you're doing.' ''
When Mathias and the other FEMA search-team representatives left the arena a half-hour before the service began, the crowd also thanked them with a standing ovation.
``People were shaking my hand, they were crying, they were going berserk,'' Mathias said of the crowd. ``It was unbelievable. It was very exciting, but I wish I could have had the whole team there. I'm just a representative. They're doing all the work, and they deserve all the credit.''
Despite the tragedy of Wednesday, the more than 444,000 residents of this city have rallied in support of one another and of those who have traveled far to help. Today, they were told during the prayer service, it is time to start healing.
``You have lost much, but you have not lost all,'' Clinton said. ``You have not lost America. We will stand with you for as long as it takes. If anyone thinks Americans are mean or selfish, they ought to come to Oklahoma.''
In chairs on the arena floor, families of the injured and dead gathered. One family wore wallet-sized photos, pinned over their hearts, of a small boy killed in the blast. A woman wore a ribbon bearing the name of her slain husband. Others laid wreaths on which were written the names of those missing.
Thousands of other mourners crowded into churches across the city to share prayers.
Back at the site of the deadliest terrorist act on American soil, search crews worked through the prayer service, pausing briefly in the grim task of locating bodies for a moment of silence at 3 p.m.
Moments later, church bells echoed through the city and its suburbs in the nation's heartland.
``We may not all be touched directly, but we are all touched here,'' said Verna Brown, with her hand over her heart. ``This is our opportunity to pull together our spirits, our prayers. I just want to be here with the people of the city.''
The people of this city have shown unprecedented fortitude in the aftermath of the bombing, said Keating, the governor.
``We've always known there was something special about our state,'' Keating said. ``Now America does. Now the world does.''
The Hampton Roads search crew re-entered the shattered building at 7 p.m. Sunday, the team's fourth day at the site. Officials said two other national teams have been activated and ordered to this city to replace the Hampton Roads task force. If the teams arrive on schedule, the Virginia Beach-based squad could be home Tuesday.
Meanwhile, wounds are healing and the resolve is strengthening in the state's capital city.
``We've come together today not only to pray,'' the Rev. Graham said, ``but to say to those who masterminded this evil outrage, the spirit of this city and this nation will not be defeated.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by PAUL AIKEN/
A man is comforted at the memorial service in Oklahoma City on
Sunday. Only about half of the 20,000 people who thronged to the
ceremony could fit into the State Fair Arena for a service that
included President and Mrs. Clinton, Gov. Frank Keating and the Rev.
Billy Graham.
Sebrina Miller, above, of Hutchinson, Kan., holds the flowers she
was given in memory of her brother, who was killed in the explosion.
At right, mourners file out after the prayer service. Sunday, sorrow
was mixed with thanks - to the firefighters and rescue workers. Many
of them came from across the nation to search for survivors.
Color ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS
Edye Smith weeps at Sunday's prayer service in Oklahoma City. She
and her husband, Tony, lost their two sons, Colton, 2, and Chase, 3.
Teddy bears were given to people at the service to symbolize the
victims of Wednesday's explosion.
President and Mrs. Clinton stand during the prayer service Sunday,
with relatives of those who died in the bombing.
KEYWORDS: OKLAHOMA CITY RELIEF AFTERMATH EXPLOSION BOMBS
TERRORISM FATALITY by CNB