REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. - A wreath laying ceremony, to honor the 61 personnel of the Office of the Program Manager for the Saudi Arabian National Guard Modernization Program who were injured or killed in the 1995 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, bombing was held Nov. 14 at the U.S. Army Security Assistance Command headquarters' Purple Heart Recipients Memorial plaque. This year marked the 19th (Nov. 13, 1995) anniversary of the bombing.
More than 15 former OPM-SANG personnel, many of them Purple Heart recipients themselves, and family members participated in the ceremony along with the USASAC workforce at Redstone Arsenal and via video teleconferences from New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and Fort Bragg, North Carolina. OPM-SANG held an observance Nov. 13 at its office in Saudi Arabia.
Retired Lt. Col. Larry Allen, one of the Purple Heart recipients assigned to OPM-SANG at the time of the bombing, coordinated with other recipients and other former OPM-SANG personnel and their family members to visit USASAC and lay the wreath. The visit became a formal ceremony that allowed USASAC employees at all locations to honor the military and civilian Purple Heart recipients (civilians were eligible for the award until 1998), five of whom were killed, nearly two decades ago.
For Allen and the other former OPM-SANG employees, the anniversary is a very personal event that continues to emphasize the closeness of that workforce. According to Marie Allen, Larry's wife, the fact that they all worked and lived together made their relationships even closer.
"We all shared the same things and our kids went to school together," she recalled. Once the bombing happened, the bond they shared became even tighter.
"We all stay in touch," Allen noted, "and we have a Facebook page where we post information and events like this."
There are also a number of former OPM-SANG employees who now work at Redstone Arsenal or retired in the North Alabama area, and Allen thinks it may be because of the work being done at the time.
"There was a lot of engineering going on then, so that may be why so many of us ended up here in the Huntsville area," he said.
Allen, who now works at NASA, described how a normal workday turned into tragedy.
"The bombing was planned to coincide with the lunch hour when they thought the most people would be in the cafeteria," he described. Allen noted that the timing ended up being slightly off, and the cafeteria was not full as expected. But the building was seriously impacted and many were injured, with co-workers doing anything they could to help. Allen also noted that after this terrorist act, it was the first time he heard the name Osama bin Laden.
USASAC deputy commander Robert L. Moore summarized the importance of marking the anniversary of the bombing.
"What you are seeing today is an example of the courage and perseverance of the OPM-SANG personnel -- some of you were injured, some of you took care of those who were injured, and yes, some of you saw your comrades pay the ultimate price, but you never gave in. … You stayed true to the mission and today you are making sure that we never forget those who paid a price for supporting our freedom."
Allen hopes that marking the anniversary gave younger employees a chance to learn about what happened, and reminded the older workforce of the importance of the mission.
OPM-SANG continues to execute Foreign Military Sales and associated security assistance and training for the Saudi Arabian National Guard, but the location has changed and non-adult dependents are a part of the past. But the workforce remains close, and according to Allen and the other former OPM-SANG employees who gathered at Redstone to honor their peers, the bombing only strengthened their resolve to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic" -- a phrase that is etched permanently on the Purple Heart Memorial plaque at USASAC.
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