81-Year-Old OKC Bombing Survivor Reminds Fellow Survivors To Continue Sharing Their Stories

Oklahoma City bombing survivor Don Bewley said April 19, 1995 started like any other day.

Sunday, April 19th 2020, 6:28 pm

By: Amelia Mugavero

Oklahoma City bombing survivor Don Bewley said April 19, 1995 started like any other day.

The 81-year-old, who was 57 at the time, woke up at 5:15 a.m. and needed to get to work by 7 a.m.

Bewley said a coworker asked him for help with her computer. If he had been at his desk when the bomb went off, Bewley would have fallen seven floors.

“I was in a bad spot," Bewley said. "I had about six feet of concrete in front of me and about three on my right where my desk was."

Bewley managed to escape from the backside of the federal building and only suffered a minor head injury.

He received stitches and went home. Bewley later learned that he lost 34 friends and coworkers.

“I would usually go to about two funerals a day for about two weeks," Bewley said. "Then it got to the point to where you had to make a decision of whose funeral you were going to go to because there were so many of them."

Bewley tried to stay positive and not dwell on the 168 who died 25 years ago, but some days are tough.

"I think some of us had that thought too: 'Why? Why not me? Why wasn’t I one of them?'" Bewley said. "I’m glad I wasn’t but it still seems strange that it wasn’t me."

Bewley makes attempts to visit the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum every five years.

When Bewley brings people to the memorial, they see his name on the survivor wall as well as the survivor tree.

He wants to remind people of those still alive to share their stories.

“There’s some of us that made it through all of that," Bewley said. "By the same token, we still have the same hardships that they did, to a degree. I would like for them to be remembered also."

Bewley attended his son's wedding a month after the bombing. Bewley still has pieces of the federal building engraved with the date of the bombing.

The engraved pieces remind Bewley to live each day to the fullest.

","published":"2020-04-19T23:28:26.000Z","updated":"2020-04-19T23:55:15.000Z","summary":"Oklahoma City bombing survivor Don Bewley said April 19, 1995 started like any other day.","affiliate":{"_id":"5c784a0c4961cb23ad330098","callSign":"kotv","origin":"https://www.newson6.com"},"contentClass":"news","createdAt":"2020-04-20T21:01:26.657Z","updatedAt":"2020-05-05T14:50:09.183Z","__v":0,"show":true,"link":"/story/5e9e0da67c6d3a5d636ca77c/81yearold-okc-bombing-survivor-reminds-fellow-survivors-to-continue-sharing-their-stories","hasSchedule":false,"id":"5e9e0da67c6d3a5d636ca77c"};