MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- This year is the 25th anniversary of the Khobar Towers bombing, and a member of Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, recalls the exact moment a Saudi terrorist group targeted the building by detonating a tank filled with 5,000 lbs. of explosives outside the lodging complex that housed 2,000 U.S. military members.
“It was about 10 o’clock at night and I had been getting ready to go to the gym,” said Larry Branch, who now works as a HC-130J Combat King II contract instructor for the 347th Operation Support Squadron. “I was getting ready to walk out when I hear knocking on the door.”
“You have to evacuate,” said a security forces officer assigned to King Abdulaziz Air Base in Saudi Arabia. “There’s a suspicious vehicle in front of the building.”
Branch began to assist the officer in evacuation and had just stepped –
The building exploded.
Glass, debris and shrapnel peppered the inside corridors of the building.
“All I can remember thinking is ‘where is my stuff’ because it had gotten blown out,” said Branch. “Then I think, that really doesn’t matter right now. I realized very quickly something very bad (was happening) because you could smell this weird acrid odor.”
After assessing the situation, Branch proceeded to the rallying point centrally located between the towers.
“I remember, specifically seeing somebody with pretty bad cuts to the face,” Branch said. “At this point, I had given my shirt away just as basic first aid.”
There are moments where Branch said he battles with guilt from surviving the incident unscathed.
“I thought, ‘how did I get away (unharmed)?’” Branch said. “Yet people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time are pulling glass from their neck.”
The attack on Khobar led to 19 U.S. Air Force personnel killed and nearly 500 people of different nationalities injured. The devastation to the immediate area was severe, causing the U.S. to pursue relief operations.
“There were so many serious injuries in the unit that we couldn’t even generate a crew to fly,” Branch said. “Within a week another unit came in and relieved us.”
Despite this harrowing experience, Branch went on to complete his commitment to active-duty Air Force and then joined the Reserves. Shortly after, Branch retired from the Reserves and is now employed at Moody as a C-130 instructor.
While Branch’s life moved forward, the Air Force continues to memorialize those whose lives were cut short. On June 25, 2021, the 920th Rescue Wing at Patrick Space Force Base, Florida, hosted a memorial ceremony to remember those who lost their lives that day.