Ali Hatton

Ali Hatton was an assistant teacher at the day-care center at the YMCA, which was located across the street from the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. In the following essay, Hatton describes how the blast damaged the day-care's building. She recounts how she tried to protect the children in her care and dug out those who had been buried in rubble. Most of the children were injured by glass and debris, and although one was so bloody she was not sure he would live, all fiftytwo children in her care survived.

When Hatton went to the hospital to have her injuries treated, she was confronted by parents who were waiting for news about their children at the federal building's daycare center. Hatton explains how she hated to disappoint them by telling them she worked at the YMCA's day-care center...