(DR 626 OK.CITY 4/95 BUILDING EXPLOSION)

(THIS IS MY COMMENTS & THOUGHTS)

by: bertha rudisill desormeaux

Can you remember where you were and what you were doing on April 19, 1995 when you heard that the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma had been bombed? I can recall exactly what I was doing on that day.

I had gone into the Red Cross Chapter in Beaumont, Texas as we had been working cases from a tornado that had hit north of us the month before. We still had some clients that we were working with that needed additional assistance in order to get things back to the way they were before the tornado had struck. It was in the afternoon of this day and we had been working since that morning. I went down to the "smoking room" to have a soda, smoke a cigarette and just sit away from everyone else. We have a television in this room and it is always on the weather channel but someone had changed it to the CNN channel. I glanced down at my watch to see what time it was and just as I did, they announced that they were breaking in with a "Special Report". The "Special Report" was that the "Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Had Just Been Bombed". It had happened that morning at 9:02 a.m, it was 2:05 p.m. when I heard it. I immediately went out into the hall and went to all of the offices to inform them of what I had just heard. The staff and volunteers that were at the chapter that day came into the room so they could hear what would be said. Little did I know at this moment that I would end up being one of the many Volunteers that would go to Oklahoma City to assist with this horrible tragedy.

The following week on Wednesday, April 26th., I was at the Chapter again working with the clients from the tornado. Our Health & Safety Director approached me that afternoon and told me that the National Red Cross had put out the call for Health Services Volunteers to go to Oklahoma City. He asked me if I would be willing to go. I didn't have to think twice about what my answer would be, it was "YES". He told me that they wanted me to be in Oklahoma City the next afternoon, Thursday, April 27th. We made all of the arrangements that needed to be made for me to be able to leave the next day.

After making the arrangements, I left the Chapter to come home so that I could tell my family that I would be going to Oklahoma City the next day. I did the things that I needed to do around the house and then got my suitcases all packed. My family was very proud of me for being "chosen" to be one of the many hundreds of Volunteers to go and assist in any way we could.

The next day, Thursday, April 27th., our Health & Safety Director called and asked me what time my flight was. I told him that my flight was for 2:20 p.m. that afternoon. He told me that the local television stations had been calling the Chapter since the day of the bombing wanting to know if any of our volunteers would be going up to Oklahoma to assist. The Public Relations Person had called the television stations that morning to let them know that a local volunteer by the name of Bertha Desormeaux from the Beaumont Chapter of the American Red Cross had been activated and would be leaving that very day. All of the stations wanted to know when my flight was so that they could be at the airport before the plane left so that they could interview me about being "chosen" to go.

They wanted to know what my feelings were about being selected from our Chapter to go to Oklahoma, what my thoughts were about this "Tragic Situation", what I expected to find once I arrived there and what would my job duties be after arriving there. I told them that I felt very Honored and Privileged to have been asked to go. I told them that although I had worked on several disasters, this one was completely different from the others as this one was "Man Made" and not an "Act of God". I really couldn't tell them what I expected to find upon arrival as you really don't know what you will find until you are on the scene. My job duties was to be in Health Services, helping the Clients with their emergency medical needs such as going to see a doctor (if needed), glasses, lost prescription medicine, bandages and assisting them with changing their bandages if needed. Although I thought I was going to miss my flight because of these interviews, I felt obligated to do them. I found out later that the airport was actually holding the flight up for me while I did the interviews for the television stations, which ended up only being a few minutes late for take off.

I was the last one to board the plane and as I entered I told the other passengers that I was very sorry for the delay. As I was saying this, they started clapping. Even though they didn't know me, they all wished me well and said that their Prayers were with the people in Oklahoma City. Apparently, the Flight Crew had been told the reason for the delay in departure and they had explained to the rest of the passengers.

Upon arrival at Headquarters, I, along with several other volunteers, had to show my Red Cross identification and my driver's license to security at the door before they would allow us to go inside. After checking in with Staffing and getting our assignments, we had to go to another room and have a special identification card made. We would have to show this one along with our original Red Cross identification to gain access to the areas we needed to be in to do the jobs we were assigned to do.

Not only did I work with other volunteers in Health Services, I ended up helping with Disaster Welfare Inquiries where relatives from other towns and states would call their local Red Cross Chapters and the chapters in turn would call the Oklahoma County Chapter in Oklahoma City to inquire about the well being of their relatives that had worked in the Murrah Federal Building. While I was working with the Disaster Welfare Inquiries, I was also assigned to do some work with the Medical Examiners List that would come daily to the Oklahoma County Chapter so that when a call came in about someone, we could look at the list and see if the person's name that they were inquiring about was on the list. A few days later, I was assigned to work at Headquarters with the Health Service volunteers there. My job was to set up home visits with clients who had lost loved ones in the explosion and I continued to work with the Medical Examiners List.

Although I was not a part of the "Search & Rescue" at the site of the explosion, I felt very privileged to be included with the many hundreds of volunteers from all over the United States who was there to assist in any way possible. All of the volunteers had one goal in mind - - To Do What They Could To Help. Even though the Volunteers' purpose for being there was to help in any way they could, it was a very welcome site to see so many of the Red Cross Volunteers that you knew by name from having worked with them on other disasters. Each knew what the other was capable of doing and knew they could depend on them for a shoulder or an ear to bend if things got to be too much for them.

A Big "THANK YOU" To All The People That Helped Whether It Was By Doing Search And Rescue, Assisting The Families, Sending Cards & Letters, Making Goodie Bags, Giving Of Your Time To Help With Food And Drinks For The Rescue Workers, Those That Donated Money And The Ones That Offered Kind Words. And To All The Children That Wrote Cards, Letters, Made Posters And Goodies And Sent The Stuffed Animals For The Children.