4.20.2010

the child survivors of the oklahoma city bombing



Yesterday was the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City federal building bombing, which killed 168 people on April 19, 1995 -- the worst homegrown terrorist attack ever perpetrated on U.S. soil: 15 years later, victims, residents remember Oklahoma City bombing.

Amidst the reflections and remembrances, I caught the name of one of 19 child survivors of the attack: Chris Nguyen, who was 5 years old and in the day care center during the bombing. Today, he's a sophomore at Oklahoma University:
That sense of destiny is shared by another childhood survivor: Chris Nguyen, now a sophomore at the University of Oklahoma in nearby Norman.

"I've been given like a gift, you might say, and if I don't make something of my life to succeed and make a difference of some kind, then I would have wasted my life," he said.

"I think about the other parents -- all the other day care children and families -- who've lost someone ... but I feel guilty almost that Brandon, Rebecca, P.J. and I, we get to live our lives ... and the other people, they don't get that opportunity," he said.
The kid's got an amazing outlook on what his survival means. Nguyen's father apparently bought plastic bags on the way to the bombing site so he could pick up his son's body, but miraculously found out that Chris had survived. That's incredible. More here: Ceremony Marks 15th Anniversary of Oklahoma City Bombing.

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