OKLAHOMA CITY ? In a church rebuilt on a site that served as a temporary morgue 10 years ago, 1,600 people gathered Tuesday to pay tribute to the victims, survivors and rescue workers of the Oklahoma City bombing.

The service was bracketed by the two most emotional events of the morning. At 9:02 a.m., the audience inside the First United Methodist Church observed 168 moments of silence, one for each of those who died April 19, 1995.

Near the end of the service, children who were orphaned by the bombing read the names of each victim as members of the audience sniffled.

Vice President Dick Cheney, who helped raise money for the bombing memorial before he took office, told the crowd that the nation wouldn’t forget what happened.

But he also said, “We want to remember not only a single act of violence, but 10,000 acts of kindness and mercy.”

The theme of the speeches was the way the city and state had moved ahead in the last decade.

Former President Bill Clinton, making his fourth visit to the site, referred to heart problems he and Cheney suffered, and said, “Oklahoma City gave us our heart back as a country.”

“Oklahoma City changed us all,” Clinton said. “It broke our hearts, and then it raised our spirits, and love is a great and enduring gift.”

From left are P.J. Allen, Rebecca Denny, Brandon Denny and Christopher Nguyen, who are four of the six survivors from the America's Kids day care center in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. For the 10th anniversary of the bombing, the children rehearsed their role in Tuesday's services. At right, bombing victim J.J. Davis, in wheelchair, and Brett Baker share a moment Tuesday in the Empty Field of Chairs at the Oklahoma City National Memorial.

About 1,100 people sat inside the main sanctuary of the church. An overflow crowd of 500 sat in other rooms in the church and watched the service on television monitors. Several hundred onlookers heard the service on audio piped outside.

The audience inside the church included 40 survivors of the 9-11 terrorist attacks.

Dan DeMoss, who lost 16 co-workers in the Social Security office that day, stood near a friend’s chair silently. He was the last to talk to any of the 16 who died.

From left, Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry, former President Clinton, Vice-President Dick Cheney and Frank Hill, Oklahoma City National Memorial Foundation chairman, say the pledge of allegiance during Tuesday's memorial service for the victims of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, in Oklahoma City.

The service was important and moving to him, he said.

“It was really good. It brought back all the familiar faces,” DeMoss said. “That choked me up. Getting to know their families, and seeing them today, it’s amazing.”