Helpers converge at site

By Ann DeFrange

April 20, 1995

On any other day, it would have looked like a parade through downtown Oklahoma City.

They were corps of medical technicians, carrying stretchers like flagpoles.

They were platoons of firefighters, swinging hatchets and shovels .

They were nurses with stethoscopes in their gloved hands.

They were National Guardsmen, radio equipment strapped to their backs.

Probably unconsciously, they formed straight lines to proceed down Harvey Avenue south toward the federal building.

But their faces were somber, their drill silent. Their destination was a triage area outside the blasted building, set up to accept wounded victims.

In just a few hours, the triage had been disassembled; too few survivors had been found to warrant it.

When they returned down the street, they shuffled and straggled.