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 Former President Bill Clinton was among the dignitaries who
addressed the crowd outside the Oklahoma City National Memorial and
Museum.
"Oklahoma City, you had to choose to redeem your terrible losses by
having to begin again," said Clinton, who was in his first term in
office at the time of the attack, one of the deadliest of its kind
ever staged on U.S. soil.
The museum, built over the spot where the destroyed Alfred P. Murrah
Federal Building once stood, includes a permanent display of 168
empty chairs, one for each person who died.
On Sunday morning, the seats were adorned with flowers, teddy bears
and other mementos. The name of each victim was read aloud by
relatives, coworkers and survivors.
“It was 60 minutes of terror,” said Oklahoma City Mayor Mick
Cornett. “But our finest hour has lasted 20 years. This city has
progressed in a manner that none of us could have foreseen.”
 The bombing was carried out on April 19, 1995, by Timothy McVeigh,
an anti-government militant who was eventually convicted on federal
charges and executed. His accomplice Terry Nichols received multiple
life prison sentences for his part in the bombing, which also
injured hundreds.
Among the many survivors at Sunday's ceremony was Priscilla Salyers.
She said she has reflected on how far she has come in fighting the
depression and survivor's guilt that has gripped her since she
plummeted five floors when the fuel-and-fertilizer bomb detonated
the nine-story building.
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Salyers remembers locking eyes with a coworker she would never see
alive again as the floor disintegrated under her feet. She was
trapped in the rubble for hours, her head beneath a 25-foot column
of concrete.
Today, the depression does not haunt Salyers as often, she says.
Helping to design the memorial was a step in her healing.
"I hope we are an inspiration to those who are starting their own
journey to healing," Salyers said. "I hope people see that life goes
on."
Also attending the ceremony were some of the so-called "miracle
babies" who were at a daycare center in the building when the bomb
exploded.
Despite seared lungs, ravaged faces and mental and psychological
scars, they try not to dwell on the past.
(Editing by Letitia Stein, Fiona Ortiz, Mohammad Zargham and Frances
Kerry)
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