They came in wheelchairs or on crutches and walking sticks, their friends and relatives lovingly supporting them. There were bandaged hands and arms, faces and legs. Even those physically well carried huge emotional scars.
They wore their Sunday best but pain and grief were still etched all over their faces. Normally, those invited to meet a President are bubbling with excitement and grinning ear-to-ear. But this was a very different sort of meeting.
They weren't looking for autographs from Bill Clinton or to get their pictures on television yesterday. They simply wanted to share their grief. Three of those still in hospital - Una McGurk and Laura and Nicola Hamilton - were released for the day.
It was the first time many of the bereaved and injured in the Omagh bomb were reunited under the one roof. They gathered in the town's leisure centre which three weeks ago was the scene of so much suffering.
Then it had been an incident centre. That's where so many found out their loved ones were dead or injured. Some families found it difficult to return to Omagh.
Bernie Doherty from Buncrana, whose son Oran (8) was killed, said: "I feel so sad. It's very hard coming here today. I remember Oran going off to Omagh so happy that morning. He never came back." Donna Maria Barker who lost her son, James (12), said: "It is very upsetting but President Clinton, as a world leader, can give us hope. He is a man of peace and we want the violence to stop. Time isn't easing the pain of losing James. It's getting harder by the day."
The normally jovial President was in sombre mood as he entered the gymnasium with the First Lady and Tony and Cherie Blair. First of all, President Clinton and Mr Blair addressed the hall. Hundreds of people listened in silence. Then, slowly, they made their way through the crowd. They spent about an hour listening to the stories.
The first person the President spoke to couldn't see him. The young girl's eyes were still covered with bandages. He stopped to chat to a boy in a Leeds United shirt. The boy couldn't shake the President's hand. His hands were still bandaged.
Stanley McCombe, whose wife Anne was killed, found it was very emotional meeting the President. "It was wonderful to talk to him man-to-man. He was very understanding of what we have been through.
"He came to grieve and shake hands with me. I asked him to do what he could to bring peace to Northern Ireland and bring the perpetrators of this ghastly deed to justice."
At first the mood in the leisure centre was heavy but as the President moved around it lightened. He met Clare Gallagher, whose eyes were badly damaged in the bomb.
Her father Seamus said: "The President said he would do anything he could to help us. He told Clare to keep her chin up and keep up her good work on the piano."
A spokesman for Mr Blair said the British Prime Minister had found the courage and determination of the people he met "positively inspirational".
He said: "Just as on the Prime Minister's previous visit to Omagh, many of the people told him to keep going with the peace process. It was obviously harrowing to hear some of the stories told by the victims and their families."
President Clinton, the First Lady, and the Blairs then moved out on to the streets where thousands of people were waiting to greet them. They stood in High Street where the shoppers had last month walked, in their innocence, to Market Street and the car bomb.
There were bunches of flowers everywhere - outside shops, on the bridge, at street corners - in memory of the dead. In streets, as in the leisure centre, the mood was sombre at first. Some people waved US flags and carried cameras but most didn't. Standing on the exact spot where the bomb exploded, the President wiped tears from his eyes.
He appeared visibly moved by the sight of the filled-in crater and remaining debris. A commemorative plaque, draped in a black flag, stood in a stone plinth at the site. The President solemnly unveiled it and Hillary Clinton laid three white flowers.
The plaque read simply: "In remembrance of the men, women and children who died in the terrorist bomb of August 15th, 1998. May their memory serve to foster peace and reconciliation."
The President then went to Watterson's drapery shop where three of the dead had worked. Ann McCombe, Geraldine Breslin and Veda Shortt had a total of 40 years' service there. "They were like family, not staff," said owner Tom Watterson.
President Clinton laid a wreath outside the shop in memory of the women.
The President went next to the crowds which had waited patiently for him. A sea of hands stretched out to touch him all the way along the main street to the courthouse. He grasped as many as he could.
The crowds were now brimming with enthusiasm. "We want Bill! We want Bill!" they yelled, cheering and whistling as he approached. His dozens of bodyguards and long line of limousines followed in tow. It was a remarkable sight.
The President shook hundreds of hands. He spoke to as many people as possible, signed autographs and hugged children. Among those gathered were members of the emergency services who had treated many of the injured.
"He asked me if I had been working that day," said one nurse. "He said it must have been a horrendous scene. He said no one could ever repay the work of medical staff."
One man, Paddy Gallagher, who shook the President's hand was delighted with the visit. "These are wonderful scenes," he said pointing to the crowds. "Omagh has gone through so much pain. We're cried out. We need something positive, we need something to hold on to and to give us faith in the future. Bill Clinton has provided that."