A family plants an American elm on the Great Plains of Oklahoma just as the capital city is taking rootthe little tree grows as Oklahoma City grows until 9:02 a.m. on April 19, 1995, the day America fell silent at the hands of one of its own. With her branches torn and tattered and filled with evidence from the bombing, the charred elm faces calls that she be cut down. In the end, as the rubble of the Alfred P. Murrah Building is cleared, this solitary tree remainsbut only because of a few who marvel that, like them, she is still there. The next spring when the first buds appear proving the tree is alive, the word spreads like a prairie wildfire through the city and the world. And the tree, now a beacon of hope and strength, is christened with a new name: The Survivor Tree.
An American elm is planted in Oklahoma City and grows with the city until 9:02 a.m., April 19, 1995. The next spring, buds appear on the charred elm, and word spreads like a prairie wildfire through the world. This symbol of hope and strength becomes known as The Survivor Tree.
