April 19, 1995, began as a gorgeous springtime day for Amy Downs, a cashier at a lending institution inside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
“I remember the red buds were blooming,” Downs remembered toFox News Digital “I was so excited. I was getting ready to close my very first house. I don’t think I did any work in that first hour of the day. I was running around talking to all my friends about the house.
“And after that I was taking a look at my watch, believing, ‘Oh gosh, it’ s nearly 9 o’clock. I’m going to obtain in difficulty. I had much better return to my workdesk.'”
Downs flew past her boss. A co-worker who was six months pregnant sat beside her. Downs asked if she needed anything.
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Amy Downs is speaking out in National Geographic’s “Oklahoma City Bombing: One Day In America.” (National Geographic/Brandon Widener)
” I do not recognize if words also appeared of my mouth or otherwise, since that’s when the bomb went off and whatever went black,” Downs said.
It was 30 years ago when a truck bomb detonated outside a federal building in America’s heartland, killing 168 people in the deadliest homegrown attack on U.S. soil. Downs and other survivors and witnesses are speaking out in a new National Geographic docuseries, “Oklahoma City Bombing: One Day in America.”
April 19, 1995, started as a beautiful spring day for Amy Downs. Then her life forever changed. (National Geographic/News9 Oklahoma City)
“I think it’s so important to remember what happened and the lessons that were learned,” Downs said of why she chose to come forward.
A rubble pile and heavy damage are visible at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on the afternoon of April 19, 1995, in Oklahoma City, Okla. (National Geographic/Danny Atchley)
Downs was 28 years old when she found herself trapped upside down in her office chair. She had fallen three floors down and was buried under 10 feet of rubble. Whenever she gasped for air, it burned down to her chest. Her body was pierced with glass.
” image-ct inline” > ” said Downs. “< div course=” inscriptionIt I keep in mind listening to roaring and yelling, and this effective hurrying experience, like I was dropping,
Firefighters ran through thick smoke toward the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. (National Geographic/Danny Atchley)
Downs screamed for help, but no one replied. In the darkness, she heard silence. Suddenly, after what felt like an eternity, there was a sudden commotion of firefighters. One said, “Let was extremely difficult
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Edye Raines and her mother, Kathy Sanders, realize the blast occurred in the building where America’s Kids Daycare is located. (National Geographic/News9 Oklahoma City)
They were referring to the children at the America’s Kids Daycare inside the building.
“< div course =” inscription” said Downs. “‘s broken up.‘Why are they looking for the daycare babies here? The daycare is on the second floor, and we’’s seek the childcare infants.
Rescue workers search through the rubble looking for survivors. (Roman Bas/AFP via Getty Images)
Fire Chief Mike Shannon heard Down’s cries for help. Just as he was about to go get her, his crew learned there was a possibility of another bomb that was about to go off. It forced them to immediately evacuate, leaving Downs behind.
District Fire Chief Mike Shannon heard Amy Downs’ cries for help. (National Geographic)
Shannon was determined to stay with Downs, but fellow firefighters refused to leave him behind. In the documentary, Shannon described how he heard the echoes of Downs sobbing, begging him to save her, as he was being rushed out.
At that moment, Downs believed her life was coming to an end.
Mike Shannon recalled hearing Amy Downs’ pleas for help. (National Geographic/Brandon Widener)
“” she said. “God< div course=” inscription God I currently recognized it had actually been a bomb, and it resembled there was an additional one, My I was preparing yourself to pass away. I hoped, or possibly you can call it haggled with”
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Panicked onlookers, survivors and first responders clear the area after the threat of a possible second explosive device in the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building April 19, 1995, in Oklahoma City. (National Geographic/News9 Oklahoma City)
In between tears, she began to recite portions of Psalm 23 to comfort herself.
“The truth was that I was 28 years of ages and preparing yourself to pass away, and I have actually never ever truly lived. I had a great deal of remorses concerning just how I had actually not been living.‘I walked through the valley of the shadow of death,’” said Downs. ” image-ct inline” >And< div course=” inscriptionThis just point I can keep in mind was,
Luke Franey, who had just escaped through the rubble, is led away. (National Geographic/News9 Oklahoma City)
There was no second bomb. Once the firefighters realized this, they rushed back in. Shannon remembered to look for Downs. When Downs heard the sounds of men again, she promised in the darkness to bake them, anyone, chocolate chip cookies if they could save her.
Amy Downs speaking to her mother from the hospital bed after her rescue. (National Geographic/KFOR-TV)
Six and a half hours later, she was free.
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President Bill Clinton departs the White House briefing room in Washington, D.C., April 19, 1995, after meeting with reporters to discuss the bombing. (National Geographic/Marcy Nighswander/The Associated Press)
Downs was one of the last survivors to be pulled from the rubble after the bombing, which killed 168 people, including 19 children. Nearly 700 others were injured.
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The Oklahoma City bombing killed 168 people, including 19 children. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Downs struggled with survivor’s guilt.
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District Fire Chief Mike Shannon confers with a colleague at the site of the bombed Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. (National Geographic/Danny Atchley)
As Downs grieved, the community banded together. In just 72 hours after the bombing, 7,000 people waited in line to donate blood, 25 reported.
An Oklahoma City firefighter walks near explosion-damaged cars on the north side of the Alfred Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City after a car bomb explosion April 19, 1995, in Oklahoma City. (National Geographic/Jim Argo/USA Today Network)
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