Born April 23, 1968. Died June 11, 2001

When they killed Timothy McVeigh on June 11 at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, prison staff followed the helpful instructions contained in a 51-page manual, Execution Protocol, published by the US Bureau of Prisons. "Staff trained in infectious disease-prevention practises utilised appropriate precautions in cleaning up the execution facility."

And all that is left is film. The tastefully titled documentary Oklahoma Bomber: The Execution is another souvenir, another document in the celebrity file of McVeigh, who was sentenced to death for the Oklahoma City bomb attack on April 19, 1995, which killed 168 people, including 19 children in a daycare centre.

For $US15.99, you can slip on a Hanes Beefy-T that reads, "The needle won't bring them back." The sales pitch: "Protest the death penalty and the execution of Timothy McVeigh with a good-looking T-shirt." Buyers may also wish to think of Allen Bridgers, who was executed on May 16 (McVeigh's original execution date) in Texas, for shooting a 53-year-old woman in the throat with a .38 revolver.

There have been the books (American Terrorist, which made a feature of McVeigh's comment on the deaths of the 19 kids: they were, he said, "collateral damage") and the exclusive interviews. McVeigh spoke to a CBS team inside Terre Haute. Yes, he said, he had become quite friendly with fellow inmate Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber: "All we ever wanted out of life was the freedom to live our own lives." Looking back on his life, would he have done anything differently? "There are moments," said McVeigh, "but not one that stands out."

The documentary will remind us of McVeigh's life and times. Middle of three children. Worked at Burger King. Bought 4.05ha of rural land and used it as a shooting range. Enlisted in the US Army in May, 1988. Liked to stay on base and clean his guns. Served in the Gulf war as a gunnery sergeant. Discharged in 1991, found work as a security guard. Lived in cheap motels and trailer parks and sold firearms at a gun show in Arizona and his only known affiliations are a registered Republican and member of the National Rifle Association.

There was the fascination with his last meal. Prison authorities in Texas have archived the menus on Death Row for the past six years. All that Stacey Lawton wanted to eat was a jar of dill pickles. Cornellus Goss asked for one banana, one apple, one orange and one coconut. Most inmates opt for buckets of delicious garbage such as fried chicken, large fries with ketchup, double-meat cheeseburgers ("all the way with jalapenos") and Coke, but Robert Madden instructed that his final meal be provided to a homeless person. McVeigh put in his last supper request a week before the execution, but the warden at Terre Haute decided when he got to eat.

There were payments by credit card. Campaigners for and against the death penalty, media covering the event and families of the Oklahoma victims needed a place to sleep, and the nearest hotel to the prison was the Hampton Inn. There were only eight places available for victims' witnesses to attend the execution, but US attorney general John Ashcroft allowed a closed-circuit telecast for about 250 survivors and family members. They included Jannie Coverdale, whose two grandchildren were killed in the bombing. "This is something I've wanted to watch," she said.

McVeigh didn't spoil the first federal execution in 37 years by appealing for a stay of execution, although his last chance was two hours before the lethal injection. By then, he had been transported from Death Row to a holding cell in the execution facility; his telephone privileges were terminated 24 hours before he was scheduled to die. When he was strapped to the gurney, and asked if he had any "last words or wishes", McVeigh will have been told in advance by the warden that his statement "should be reasonably brief".

After he spoke, the warden would have signaled the executioner, and have said the last words McVeigh ever heard: "We are ready."