Two weeks ago, while in Oklahoma to celebrate my father’s retirement (46 years with the National Weather Service!) I had the opportunity, with my mother, sister and one of my three brothers, to visit the stirring Oklahoma City National Memorial that was constructed on the site of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which was destroyed by a bomb on April 19, 1995.  168 lives were lost – including 19 children.

There is a very sacred feeling on the grounds of The Oklahoma City National Memorial.  I hope my photos from that visit, displayed in the slideshow featured at the end of this post, set to a bagpipe version of “Amazing Grace,” will impart that feeling to those who view it.

The explosion occurred at 9:01 AM.  “The Gates of Time” at the memorial are marked “9:01″ and “9:03″ … the shallow reflecting pool between The Gates of Time represents the time during which the explosion occurred, and during which so many lives were lost.

The Field of Empty Chairs is a particularly touching part of the memorial.

168 empty chairs hand-crafted from glass, bronze, and stone represent those who lost their lives, with a name etched in the glass base of each. The chairs represent the empty chairs at the dinner tables of the victims’ families. The chairs are arranged in nine rows to symbolize the nine floors of the building; each person’s chair is on the row (or the floor) on which the person worked or was located when the bomb went off. The chairs are also grouped according to the blast pattern, with the most chairs nearest the most heavily damaged portion of the building.

To see the set of photos from my visit, along with captions that explain the various symbols and features of the memorial that are pictured, go here.

(tip:  click on “HD” and view full-screen)