At three minutes past seven on the evening of Wednesday 21 December 1988 a bomb exploded
board Pan Am Flight 103, a Boeing 747 en route from London to New York. The aircraft broke
up almost immediately, and wreckage came to earth over a wide area. The largest parts of
the aircraft landed on the Scottish town of Lockerbie. All 243 passengers and 16 crew on
board Flight 103 were killed, as were 11 people on the ground in Lockerbie.
The Lockerbie Bombing or the Lockerbie Air Disaster remains the deadliest aviation incident,
and the deadliest act of terrorism, ever to take place in the United Kingdom. Those killed
included nationals of 21 different countries in five different continents, and the victims
ranged in age from 2 months to 82 years old.
The main focus for remembrance in Scotland lies just under a mile
west of Lockerbie along the A709 Lochmaben road. Dryfesdale Cemetery
extends back to the north of the road, and here you find the Garden of
Remembrance and Lockerbie Air Disaster Memorial. The garden lies towards
the far end of the cemetery and is a beautiful and tranquil place in which
to think about those who lost their lives in the skies above the town and on the ground.
The garden leads you through beds of flowers and past individual memorials to the Lockerbie Air
Disaster Memorial. This is constructed of grey granite and is arranged in the form of a triptych.
It is imposing in its sheer size, but sobering too, when you realise that the size of the memorial
is simply a function of the number of names it carries.
Near the entrance to the Dryfesdale Cemetery is the Dryfesdale Lodge Visitors' Centre. This was originally the
cemetery caretaker's cottage, but since 2003 has served as a centre for the local community, for visitors to Lockerbie and,
in particular for visitors to the Garden of Remembrance and Lockerbie Air Disaster Memorial. A number of rooms have been
converted to accommodate information about the area, and about the air disaster. The visitors' centre is also the home
of the Book of Remembrance.
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