Brett Brooks

Although the Ryder truck with the bomb was parked in front of the Alfred P. Murrah building, many more buildings were damaged or destroyed by the explosion. The Journal Record building was a block away from the federal building, separated only by a parking lot. Working inside the Journal Record building was Brett Brooks, who worked for the Oklahoma Guaranteed Student Loan Program. Brooks normally took his morning break at 9 A.M. in the break room at the rear of the building, a section that was closest to the federal building. On the morning of April 19, 1995, however, a telephone call delayed his break and saved his life.

In the following essay, Brooks recounts the destruction done to the Journal Record building. In fact, Brooks first believed the bomb had exploded in his building. He managed to...