A Night of Remembrance at VA Tech

By Paul Strand

CBN News

April 18, 2007

CBNNews.com - Blacksburg, VIRGINIA - By the thousands they poured onto the vast Drill Field at the center of Virginia Tech, stopping to pick up cups and candles on the way.

Then they waited for darkness to descend so they could let their lights shine - and shine brilliantly - in the night.

For the last two days they've signed and wept and often done it alone.

Several told CBN News how devastated and shaken up they've been by the horrific news of the shootings that happened just a few feet from where this vigil was held:

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TRAGEDY AT VIRGINIA TECH

"My absolute favorite professor in this school, Logan Nathan, was killed in the shooting, and I was actually standing right up here by Norris when I heard the shots, and then SWAT came up and told me to get out of here," said engineering student Andy Reed.

Frenda Wall and Jonathan Simmons are hometown kids both touched by the tragedy.

Jonathan's dad works in Norris Hall and was trapped there Monday.

"He was there and heard every shot that was made," said Simmons. "Two of his professors that he worked with all the time were two that unfortunately got killed."

Simmons continued, "I was scared half to death thinking of my dad over here and there was nothing I could do. I couldn't hear. I just wanted to hear his voice."

And Wall said, "I rode the bus with a guy actually and I didn't even know his name until today, but he was so nice and he always smiled and he would always say 'hi' to everyone on the bus...and he was actually one of the ones who was killed."

Reed, who normally has class in Norris Hall on Tuesdays, mentally shuddered at how close he came to being one of the 32 slain.

"I would have been in there if it were Tuesday, which is a pretty scary thought," he said.

"I don't know if you've ever run into a brick wall at a hundred miles an hour…That was an incredibly sinking feeling," said Roanoke resident Matthew Mitchell. "It's just a horrible tragedy that I hope no one ever sees the likes of again."

Because of the pain and realizing that all of them needed each other to somehow deal with it, they lit their candles together and in hope...through the sad notes of "Taps."

It was an incredibly sad event that brought all the people out there Tuesday night.

But there was still something haunting -- almost beautiful -- about all the candles flickering in the evening. And for most people, it seemed to help.

"The support was amazing," Wall said. "And it's the students, it's our town, it's the country -- it's the whole world represented here in some form or another tonight. And it just helps to know that all that's behind us and that everybody's praying for us. And they need to just keep praying for us because we're going to need it in the months, and probably years, to come."

Reed said, "I can just hope that being with my friends here at VT over the next few days, that we'll just...grief in unity, and sort of heal each other."

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