OKC Bombing Survivor Shares Story With Elementary Kids

An Oklahoma City bombing survivor shares his story with 4th graders just before the 20th anniversary of the tragedy.

David Sykes said talking about it helps him cope with what happened, similar to a group counseling session.

Sykes was a postal worker at the Murrah Building when the bomb went off. He was knocked unconscious and woke up to a nightmare.

“I worked in that building five hours a day, five days a week, for five years,” said David Sykes.

Sykes wants to share his story, but said it is not always easy.

“Kids don't realize that they always clap when I come,” Sykes explained. “They've gave me my group counseling for that week and that month, you have to be able to talk about it,” he added.

As a mailman, he knew every face and name of Murrah Building employees.

“If you lock it up and act like it was never there, you'll spin your wheels for a long time,” he told News 9.

Sykes opened up to Newscastle 4th graders on Thursday and brought artifacts with him like keys to the building, pieces of the lobby floor and pictures.

Sykes said he was the first employee in the building on April 19th, 1995. When the bomb went off, it knocked him out for six minutes.

“I get lifted up off my toes and I'm blown backwards the length of a pickup truck, bumper to bumper, into a wall,” Sykes recalled.

The kids asked questions like, "why did the bombing happen, what did it feel like and why did they pick chairs for the memorial?"

Then came a heartbreaker from 10-year-old Lola Meek, asking if Sykes knew her cousin, Claudette Meek, who died in the bombing.

“The bomb went off when she was at the meeting, so she never got to celebrate with her daughter for her daughter's birthday,” said Meek.

“That one there really hurt,” Sykes paused. “You know real fast how precious life is - I flash into that when I hear something like that,” he explained.

Sykes still has slivers of glass in his arms that show up on X-rays and sometimes rise to the surface before sloughing off. Deep emotions also surface.

“This kind of gauges me on that, if I'm unable to talk about it, then maybe my wheels are getting deep,” Sykes said.

His Newcastle ball cap and mail bag are now at the museum. Sykes said he never passes up a chance to invite out-of-townees to the memorial to make sure the victims are never forgotten.