April 19th in History

In 1992, while I was in Guatemala, My nephew Andrew was born. The best thing that ever happened on April 19th....

Cause it is a rough day in American history...

In 1993, on Andy's first birthday, we watched as the Waco, TX compound of the Branch Davidians (a splinter group from 7th day Adventists) blazed out of control after a 51 day standoff with federal authorities.  The siege began because of the group's inventory of high-powered illegal firearms.

David Koresh, leader of the group, perished in the flames. 80 were dead, a quarter of them were children. Only nine survivors made it to safety. Four federal officers also lost their lives.

Crazy.

Two years later, Timothy McVeigh truck-bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Building on April 19, 1995, to protest both the Branch Davidian siege and the August 21-22, 1992 events at Ruby Ridge. It also marked the 220th anniversary of the Battle of Concord and Lexington.

The bomb went off just after 9am, killing 168 people including 3 pregnant women and 19 babies and children, and I will never forget this image:

A photograph of firefighter Chris Fields removing infant Baylee Almon (who later died in a nearby hospital) from the destruction

(Taken by credit specialist Charles H. Porter IV, earned the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography)

Both McVeigh and his co-conspirator Terry Nichols were quickly taken into custody.

Accomplices Michael and Lori Fortier testified against McVeigh and Nichols; Michael was sentenced to 12 years in prison for failing to warn the U.S. government, and Lori received immunity from prosecution in exchange for her testimony. On January 20, 2006, after serving ten and a half years of his sentence, including time already served, Fortier was released for good behavior into the Witness Protection Program and got a new identity.

I am not sure I see where the on-going threat is that he gets to walk away from what he has done... Not sure that is fair... But nobody asked me, I suppose.

McVeigh was executed for his crimes in 2001. Terry Nichols will spend his life in prison.

Thankfully, more recent events are more upbeat.

The happier news includes Pope Benedict's election on April 19th, 2005. (Funny, Pope Francis was elected on my birthday this time around...)

And today, Andrew is 21 years old- Time has simply flown by.

Happy Birthday, my sweet boy!