THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 6, 1995 TAG: 9505060306
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: FROM WIRE REPORTS
DATELINE: OKLAHOMA CITY LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
Barely 14 hours after they called off their search for victims, hundreds of rescuers stood shoulder to shoulder Friday beside the shattered Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, silent witnesses at a memorial service signaling the end of hope and beginning of healing.
Just before midnight Thursday, exhausted teams of searchers who had spent the previous 16 days crawling through the rubble of the building pulled the last of the 165 victims from the wreckage left by the nation's deadliest terrorist attack. Two more are missing and counted as dead.
But as the living gathered in gauzy sunlight Friday afternoon to remember the dead, they also honored those who worked with such courage and determination inside the building's jagged skeleton.
As the brittle rasp of drumbeats and a bagpipe dirge echoed off the broken granite ruin, and the rescuers turned and walked away for the last time, scores of spectators watching from behind police lines began a chorus of applause that lasted more than 20 minutes.
Some in the crowd, their faces streaked with tears, came forward silently to embrace the men and women who had spent so many hours inside the rubble.
Their shoulders shook and their eyes filled with tears as they gazed upward at the ugly, gray remains. But even some of the rescue workers acknowledged that they needed to see it one more time.
``It doesn't really seem believable,'' said Michael Remkus, a firefighter from Edmond, Okla.
``There was an eternal flame of hope of wanting to find survivors,'' he said. ``But there was the pragmatic outlook that there was only going to be victims.''
He looked at the building.
``I'm just glad it's done,'' he said.
Priscilla Salyers, who fell three stories and suffered broken ribs in the blast, stood in front of the shattered building, brushing away tears.
It was the first time since she was rescued that she had seen the building. She had to come, she said, to say goodbye and to thank those who saved her.
``It's really hard,'' she said. ``I don't know how to describe it. Maybe it is a closing. I had to be able to visualize it - it still seems like a dream.''
The two missing victims, identified Friday as Christi Rosas, 22, and Virginia Thompson, 56, worked in the Federal Employees Credit Union on the third floor.
Ray Blakeney, operations director for the state Medical Examiner's Office, told the Associated Press that the searchers had ``a very good idea'' where the women's bodies were and that the FBI would mark the spot with fluorescent paint. When the building is demolished, rescuers can make a final effort at retrieving the bodies.
Federal officials have yet to decide whether to rebuild at the site of the bombing and how they will go about demolishing the building. Bringing down the building all at once with explosives would be quicker than using a wrecking ball, but some fear an explosion could traumatize people again.
``I think the question is: Would that cause more conflict than leaving the building over a long period of time?'' said Allen Wright, an aide to Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Okla. ``Does that create more strain for the community because it is very much an open wound?''
Many in Oklahoma City want to replace the building with a memorial, and federal officials say they will consider the community's wishes. MEMO: Related stories on pages A5-A8: Survivors: Victims, including complete
list of victims and biographies and photos of thirty-four victims; The
Suspect, Timothy McVeigh.
ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS color photo
Kathy Keating, wife of Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, embraces rescuer
Alan Clark of the state Medical Examiner's Office in front of the
Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City Friday.
KEYWORDS: TERRORISM BOMBING EXPLOSION by CNB