New National Geographic docuseries aims to give unflinching accounts of Oklahoma City bombing

For Amy Downs, it’s strange to think that three decades have passed since the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City.

“It’s the same thought I have when I pass by the mirror in my bathroom, and I'm like, ‘Who's that old lady?’ It's hard to wrap my brain around 30 years going by, whether the bombing happened or not, I guess,” she told The Oklahoman via Zoom from her Medicine Park home.

“But it is really weird to think of it as 30 years. In some ways it feels like it was yesterday, and in some ways, it does feel like a lifetime ago.”

On April 19, 1995, Downs was at work as the credit card loan officer at what was then the Federal Employees Credit Union inside the Murrah Building when a truck bomb outside detonated at 9:02 a.m., leaving 168 people dead, including 19 children, and injuring more than 680 others.

Still in her office chair, Downs, who was then Amy Petty, suddenly found herself upside down and buried alive in the ruins of the nine-story building. It took rescuers more than six hours to free her from the wreckage.

“At one point, I remember, I was like, ‘Hey, can you guys tell me a joke or something?’ just trying to pass the time. And I remember one of them said, ‘Well, we're firefighters, and all the jokes we know are dirty.’ And I was like, ‘Well, I kind of just had a big come-to-Jesus meeting, so we probably better skip that,’” she recalled with a chuckle.

“They did show me, because I'd never seen it, there's footage of me coming out of the building on a stretcher.”

Downs shares her memories of the bombing and its aftermath in the new three-part docuseries, “Oklahoma City Bombing: One Day in America,” premiering Wednesday, April 2, on National Geographic.

“The Oklahoma City bombing was a tragedy that deeply impacted America, but in its wake, we saw extraordinary strength, compassion, and resilience,” Tom McDonald, executive vice president of Global Factual and Unscripted Content at National Geographic, said in a statement. “By sharing these firsthand accounts, we honor the survivors, families and heroes who responded — ensuring this pivotal moment in history is never forgotten.”

Who is featured in National Geographic’s 30th anniversary OKC bombing documentary?

"Oklahoma City Bombing: One Day in America” features rare archival footage and intimate interviews with people who were there, including some sharing their stories for the first time.

The new docuseries includes interviews with Downs and fellow bombing survivor Fran Ferrari; Bud Welch and Edye Raines, who both lost children in the tragedy; first responders Mike Shannon and Melissa Webster; local television journalist Robin Marsh; then-federal agents Bob Ricks, Walter Lamar, Jon Hersley, Mark Michalic and Luke Franey; attorney Stephen Jones; and retired state trooper Charlie Hanger, who initially took Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh into custody during a routine traffic stop.

It also features interviews with then-Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating and former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who recently confirmed that he will return to OKC as the keynote speaker for the 30th anniversary bombing remembrance event on April 19 at the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum.

“April 19, 1995, still matters. It matters a lot because it shows you how wrong things can go and how horrible the consequences can be when someone who feels politically and personally alienated from a country and a government thinks that there's no sensible alternative to mass violence,” Clinton says in the docuseries.

“We need for people to recognize that our differences are good, healthy, even essential — but only if our common humanity matters more.”

From 72 Films, the Emmy Award-winning team behind National Geographic’s “One Day in America” franchise, the bombing docuseries debuts with “Episode 1: Explosion” premiering at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 2, followed by “Episode 2: Manhunt” at 8 p.m. and “Episode 3: Justice” at 9 p.m.

“We try to make films that are not history lessons, but that take you into the experience of the people who were there,” 72 Films executive producer David Glover said in a statement.

“What we find is that in the darkest moments of history, we still see incredible kindness, heroism, and the very best of human nature. This series pays tribute to the ordinary people of Oklahoma and their response to a terrorist attack.”

The series starts streaming the next day on Disney+ and Hulu.

"I was really impressed with 72 Films. ... They just take such care. You can tell they're not trying to structure the interview to get you to say something specific. They have actually done their homework," Downs said. "It was very important to them, and they said early on, that their focus was not about McVeigh. Their focus was they really wanted the stories of the people that were there."

Why did bombing survivor Amy Downs decide to share her story for a 30th anniversary docuseries?

Although she has shared her story of surviving the Oklahoma City bombing many times before, including in her 2020 book "Hope is a Verb: My Journey of Impossible Transformation," Downs said she wanted to be part of making an "up-to-date, relevant historical documentary" on the 30-year-old event.

"I was starting to see that, when I would go speak places, there were always people that would come up and be like, 'I wasn't even born,' or 'I was in first grade' (when the bombing happening)," Downs said. "My motivation for this was feeling like it was going to be well done, the focus was going to be on the people who were there, and needing to have something for this next generation."

The docuseries lives up to its billing as a “raw and unflinching account of that tragic day, told by those who lived through it." Although there are parts of the docuseries she has chosen not to see to protect her mental health, Downs said she feels it is important that the events of the bombing are depicted in an accurate way, even if they are hard to watch.

"You have to keep in mind the 25-year-old, that's like, 'The what bombing; when was this?' So, from that standpoint, I think showing it, it might feel hard to us. But it's the reality of what happened," she said. "It's not necessarily sensationalized: It really was like that. And maybe that generation does need to see it to understand — to really understand — the magnitude of what happened to us."

Although she survived the bombing, Downs' own story is rendered in heartbreaking detail, particularly when rescuers were forced to leave her behind, still trapped in the wrecked building, due to reports of another possible bomb onsite. It turned out to be just a training device, so first-responders were ultimately able to return and free her from the ruins.

But she said those dire moments when she was left alone aren't ones you ever get over.

"I had not seen the part about where I begged Mike Shannon to stay and not leave, and hearing him talk about that in the part where he wrestled with whether to stay or go ... I never put myself in their shoes from that aspect, and it was like, wow, I cannot imagine. And I just feel so sorry," she said.

Many of the memories of the more than six hours she spent trapped in the rubble remain vivid, she said.

"I remember, I kept saying, 'Hey, are you guys going to be able to get me out?' And Allen Hill, who was the firefighter in charge, he kept saying, 'Amy, we're going to do our best,'" she recalled. "I always say, this is when I learned I had leadership potential, because I started trying to micromanage them. I knew there was an emergency physician there to talk about amputating my legs. So, I started telling them, 'Hey, if you guys need to chop something off to get me out, you need to chop it off.' I start trying to tell them what to do; thankfully, they didn't listen to me."

Although 18 of her 33 coworkers died, Downs survived. She overcame the subsequent survivor guilt and trauma and kept the promise she made to God when she was trapped to change her life. She went from a couch potato who weighed more than 350 pounds to completing a full Ironman Triathlon. She became a mother to her son, Austin. And she became CEO of what's now Allegiance Credit Union, only recently retiring to become self-employed.

Even when it's painful, she said it is important to remember the bombing, the people who were lost and the pain that the community overcame.

"I feel it's very important. It's part of our history. It's also something that we can be proud of, the way we responded to this evil thing that happened to us. I think Oklahoma City has such a story of transformation ... and I feel like there's lessons to be learned by that," she said.