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Sunday marks twenty years since Oklahoma City Bombing

OKLAHOMA CITY (WISH) —  It’s been twenty years since the Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people and left hundreds of others hurt.  The painful images are hard to forget, even two decades after the attack.

On April 19, 1995,168 people, including 19 children, died and 700 people were hurt.  On Sunday dignitaries and family will gather at the Oklahoma City National Memorial, built on the former site of the Murrah Building, to honor and remember the victims.

President Bill Clinton and other leaders will speak to those who want to honor the memories of their loved ones. All year-round at the memorial, 168 chairs sit empty — a haunting reminder of all the lives lost when those bombs went off.

Just after 9:00 Central Time, the crowd will observe 168 seconds of silence.  Following the moment of silence will be a program of hope and healing.

As Clinton speaks during the memorial, it will no doubt bring back memories for anyone who watched this unfold twenty years ago. Just hours after the explosion, then President Clinton had strong words for the attackers.

“The bombing in Oklahoma City was an attack on innocent children and defenseless citizens. It was an act of cowardice and it was evil. The United States will not tolerate and I will not allow the people of this country to be intimidated by evil cowards,” said Clinton in 1995.

Timothy McVeigh and accomplice Terry Nichols were convicted in the attack. McVeigh was executed here in Indiana, after a jury found him guilty of parking a rental truck filled with explosives in front of the building.

Nichols was sentenced to life in prison.