by OnYrMrk » Tue Apr 18, 2006 8:41 pm
Guys,
I hate tomorrow, and probably every April 19th for the rest of my life yet I thank God for it.
You see, I was there when the bomb went off. I was refueling my ambulance after a 12 hour shift when the bomb detonated. Our refueling station was 3blocks from the Murrah Building. The blast literally blew my feet out from under me. Every window in our shop shattered from the pressure. My partner and I were the first ambulance on the scene.
Ground Zero was, in my eyes, the most spectacular and horrifying site I have ever seen. As soon as we rolled up, we were overcome by the wounded. People with glass embedded in their skin, bleeding profusely, some bleeding out. We grabbed everything we had on the ambulance, called for backup, and established a triage center. We had walking wounded, we had critical and some were so far gone, we couldn't help them. I handed out yellow tabs, red tabs, and placed black tabs.
As I approached what was left of the building, a man was reaching out to survivors, reaching out to help them up...but even as hard as he was trying to help them, we had to act fast. You see, he was bleeding out from his shoulder. His arm was supposed to be there. It was then that someone told me there was a daycare in the building. Now we knew not only dead adults, but the grim reality that there will be dead children. I reached down in the rubble, very close to the crater, and found a child's arm...unfortunately it was just the arm.
Around 10am, about an hour or so after the blast, someone yelled out of the building, "We found another bomb!!!" We were ordered out of the area. I ran faster and harder than my fat legs would carry me. I just knew I would be dead. But you see, there wasn't another bomb, and I lived. Lived so I could continue helping the wounded, place the murdered children in the back of my ambulance, our makeshift "portable morgue" for the children.
I lived so that the memory of this day would forever haunt, yet strengthen me. I lived so that even after that day, I could save a few more lives, and eventually save my own.
I stand here, a former NREMT-I, as a testimate of the human Spirit. I saw more compassion and love spring from this tragedy than any of the hurt it caused. I want you to know the kind of passion that went into the rescue effort, not for my sake, but for the sake of a few hundred Paramedics, EMT's, Firemen, Policemen and Deputies. We saw hell that day...but not even hell could keep us down.
I will never forget April 19th, 1995. It was the day that my former life ended, and a new one began.
Please think of the rescue workers that served 11 years ago. Pray for their families as these men and women re-live the moments that stood out that day. Pray for the husband, wife, brother, sister, aunt, and or uncle of each and every person that perished in that building. It has changed Oklahoma City forever.
Joe Wallis
EMSA Medic
1992-1996
Guys,
I hate tomorrow, and probably every April 19th for the rest of my life yet I thank God for it.
You see, I was there when the bomb went off. I was refueling my ambulance after a 12 hour shift when the bomb detonated. Our refueling station was 3blocks from the Murrah Building. The blast literally blew my feet out from under me. Every window in our shop shattered from the pressure. My partner and I were the first ambulance on the scene.
Ground Zero was, in my eyes, the most spectacular and horrifying site I have ever seen. As soon as we rolled up, we were overcome by the wounded. People with glass embedded in their skin, bleeding profusely, some bleeding out. We grabbed everything we had on the ambulance, called for backup, and established a triage center. We had walking wounded, we had critical and some were so far gone, we couldn't help them. I handed out yellow tabs, red tabs, and placed black tabs.
As I approached what was left of the building, a man was reaching out to survivors, reaching out to help them up...but even as hard as he was trying to help them, we had to act fast. You see, he was bleeding out from his shoulder. His arm was supposed to be there. It was then that someone told me there was a daycare in the building. Now we knew not only dead adults, but the grim reality that there will be dead children. I reached down in the rubble, very close to the crater, and found a child's arm...unfortunately it was just the arm.
Around 10am, about an hour or so after the blast, someone yelled out of the building, "We found another bomb!!!" We were ordered out of the area. I ran faster and harder than my fat legs would carry me. I just knew I would be dead. But you see, there wasn't another bomb, and I lived. Lived so I could continue helping the wounded, place the murdered children in the back of my ambulance, our makeshift "portable morgue" for the children.
I lived so that the memory of this day would forever haunt, yet strengthen me. I lived so that even after that day, I could save a few more lives, and eventually save my own.
I stand here, a former NREMT-I, as a testimate of the human Spirit. I saw more compassion and love spring from this tragedy than any of the hurt it caused. I want you to know the kind of passion that went into the rescue effort, not for my sake, but for the sake of a few hundred Paramedics, EMT's, Firemen, Policemen and Deputies. We saw hell that day...but not even hell could keep us down.
I will never forget April 19th, 1995. It was the day that my former life ended, and a new one began.
Please think of the rescue workers that served 11 years ago. Pray for their families as these men and women re-live the moments that stood out that day. Pray for the husband, wife, brother, sister, aunt, and or uncle of each and every person that perished in that building. It has changed Oklahoma City forever.
Joe Wallis
EMSA Medic
1992-1996