In this Place
The lives of those lost as a result of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 have been commemorated in physical spaces across the world. Some are quiet places of solitary contemplation, while others stand in the midst of hectic daily life: small gatherings of stones in a field, plaques and benches in favorite parks, a lone tree, the flagpole outside an alma mater. Although the victims are remembered in tangible and intangible ways, the importance of a physical place to which one might go to recollect persists.
Garden of Remembrance and Remembrance Room
On the one-year anniversary of the disaster, December 21, 1989, the Garden of Remembrance at Dryfesdale Cemetery was officially dedicated. A symbolic interment for the 17 unidentified victims was held earlier that year on January 31. Consisting of a garden and memorial wall bearing the names of all 270 victims, the Garden of Remembrance has since grown to include plaques dedicated to specific victims by their loved ones. The memorial stone wall was erected with the assistance of the Lockerbie Air Disaster Trust. The re-dedication of the Dryfesdale Cemetery Lodge in June 1990 created a space of quiet reflection for those who travel to Lockerbie to pay their respects.
The Dryfesdale Cemetery Lodge is located on the grounds of Dryfesdale Cemetery, just a short distance from where the nose cone of Pan Am Flight 103 came to rest. The Lodge was re-dedicated as a Remembrance Room on Saturday, June 30, 1990. The ceremony was attended by victims’ families and the residents of Lockerbie. Inside the Remembrance Room are memorial books for the 270 victims and plaques dedicated to their memory.
Place of Remembrance
Dedicated on April 22, 1990, the Place of Remembrance is Syracuse University’s permanent built memorial to the victims of the disaster. The monument consists of a semi-circular granite and limestone wall engraved with the names of the University’s 35 study abroad students who perished in the bombing, a Remembrance Garden, and a circular granite bench bearing the names of Clay, New York residents Paula and Glenn Bouckley, who were among the victims. At the request of the students’ families, the inscription on the wall was amended shortly after the dedication to include the phrase “caused by a terrorist bomb.” Located directly in front of the Hall of Languages, the Place of Remembrance is a prominent feature of the campus environment. A Rose-Laying Ceremony coordinated by the Remembrance and Lockerbie Scholars program as part of Remembrance Week and an annual memorial service organized by Hendricks Chapel are held at the site each year.
The dedication of the Place of Remembrance was attended by the families of the 35 Syracuse University study abroad students, faculty, staff, students, alumni, and community members. Music was provided throughout the program by the Syracuse Scottish Pipe Band and the Syracuse University Brass Ensemble. The Gates of Prayer by Ceil Buonocore, printed here, was used as a responsive reading during the ceremony. Ronald R. Cavanagh, Allison L. Gordon, and Robert P. Berrell, Sr. offered remembrances on behalf of the faculty, students, and parents, respectively. “This marvelous place, at once a most mundane center, a functional portal of our daily comings and goings, is now pledged as well to stand as an honored symbol of the spirit of Gateway and of Passage,” Cavanagh remarked. “Not a place apart, obscure or aloof and avoidable. But an undeniable, almost irresistible conduit of our collective energies. A place at the heart of our Welcomes and Farewells.”
Following years of exposure to the harsh Syracuse climate, the Remembrance Wall had suffered weather damage resulting in shifting masonry, cracking, and fading of the inscriptions. A complete restoration of the memorial and the gateway to the University, which stands in front of the Place of Remembrance on the Einhorn Family Walk, was completed in 2012. Pieces of the original wall, like the one seen here, were salvaged by Lupini Construction, Inc. and given to the victims’ families as mementos of the original monument.
Lockerbie Cairn at Arlington National Cemetery
Following the extensive efforts of the American families of the victims of Pan Am Flight 103, Senate Joint Resolution 129 designating Arlington National Cemetery as the site for the Lockerbie Cairn was unanimously approved by Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton in November 1993. The Cairn, a traditional Scottish symbol of remembrance, was a gift from the people of Scotland to the people of the United States. It is constructed of 270 red sandstone blocks mined from the Corsehill Quarry in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, the same quarry from which the base stones of the Statue of Liberty were mined. The names of each of the 270 victims are engraved on the structure’s granite base. The original design for the Cairn was completed by Lockerbie resident Donald T. Bogie. The principal mason involved in the Cairn’s construction was Frank Klein, father of Pan Am 103 victim Patricia Klein.
The Cairn is a tapered, conical tower of 14 courses capped by 18 milled stones to total 270 individual stones — one for each person killed in the disaster. It stands 12 feet tall, with a total diameter of 12 feet including the granite base. Deirdre Fortune, wife of Pan Am 103 victim Robert Fortune, served on the Cairn Committee of Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, Inc., and was heavily involved in commissioning and preparing the reports, designs, and proposals presented to the National Security Advisor, the Commission of Fine Arts, and the Secretary of the Army for construction approval of the Cairn. She further served on the Dedication Subcommittee responsible for coordinating the dedication of the Cairn by President Bill Clinton in 1995.
The 270 victims’ names are sandblasted on five segments of the Cairn’s granite base in a font designed by Lettering in Stone of Washington, D.C. A brief narrative about the event is included on the sixth panel.
The stones for the Cairn were dressed by Dunhouse Quarry Limited and stored by Joseph Horgan of Horgan Brothers Construction Company for over three years after being delivered to Pennsylvania. Horgan is the brother-in-law of Pan Am 103 victim Michael Doyle.
Corsehill Quarry is situated approximately eight miles south east of Lockerbie in the flight path of Pan Am Flight 103. The quarry is owned by Annandale & Eskdale District Council.
Frank Klein was instrumental to the construction of the Cairn at Arlington National Cemetery. A skilled builder, Klein came out of retirement to volunteer his time for all stages of the monument’s construction from the quarrying stage to grouting the cap stones that top the Cairn. He continues to be involved in the care of the structure.
Jane Schultz, mother of Pan Am 103 victim Thomas Schultz, was an instrumental figure on the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, Inc. subcommittee charged with organizing the dedication ceremony of the Lockerbie Cairn.
The bronze dedication plaque affixed to the side of the Cairn was designed by sculptor J. Clayton Bright, brother of Pan Am 103 victim Nicholas Bright. It incorporates borders in a traditional Celtic motif and notes the Cairn was presented to the people of the United States by the Lockerbie Air Disaster Trust.
This model of the Lockerbie Cairn was initially intended as a gift to the Clinton Presidential Library in gratitude for President Clinton’s support of the Cairn and involvement with the groundbreaking and dedication ceremonies. An updated version complete with the victims’ names and narrative of the event engraved on the granite base was donated to the Library in its place, while this model came to the Pan Am Flight 103/Lockerbie Air Disaster Archives.