Day24. Waco, TX. Branch Headquarters

On April 19, 1993 the FBI and the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms destroyed the compound of the Branch Davidians burning 85 people to death. 4 FBI agents were also killed. We went to the property to see for ourselves what was left there. It was easy to find. The gate to the driveway was open, and we just drove in. There were no people that we could see but we heard the voices of children in the distance coming from an area where there were a few buildings.

No one came to question our presence, and we felt comfortable looking around. The main sight one is presented with is an old twisting tree surrounded by a circle of small, upright granite markers. A closer look at the markers reveals not only the names and the single date on each stone, but the age of each person who perished. More than half of the 84 stones were those of children and the unborn. The stone for the 85th person that was noticeably missing was the one for David Koresh.