LOCKERBIE, SCOTLAND – Throughout Lockerbie and the surrounding areas are memorials dedicated to the Pan Am Flight 103 disaster. Both locals and visitors ensure the sites are well maintained, always contain fresh flowers and are kept free of trash. Here are some of the town’s main memorials:

Garden of Remembrance

Located at the back end of Dryfesdale Cemetery is the Garden of Remembrance, one of the most well-known memorials dedicated to Pan Am Flight 103. Flower gardens greet visitors as they make their way to a granite memorial with two benches on each side. The names of all 270 victims are engraved on the memorial, where visitors constantly leave flowers and letters. Plaques, stones and installations dedicated to victims were placed throughout the garden by family and friends.

Sherwood Crescent 

The 11 locals who were killed in the disaster were in Sherwood Crescent, a residential area in Lockerbie, where the wings created a crater and started a large fire upon impact. New houses have since been built, but a specific area was left untouched for a memorial site. Slightly hidden from plain sight, the memorial can only be accessed by a small opening next to the road. At the end of a clear lawn stand a tree, a wooden bench and a stone marker that signifies the crater left by the plane’s wings.

Rosebank 

A piece of the plane’s rear fuselage landed in Rosebank, another residential area, but miraculously, none of the residents in the area were killed. The house near the site is where most of the bodies fell, including some of the SU students. The memorial is a rectangular piece of stone with a plaque that reads, “In Remembrance of all victims of Lockerbie Air Disaster who died here on 21st December 1988.”

Lockerbie Air Disaster Memorial Window

Located in the town centre is the Lockerbie Town Hall, one of the most striking buildings in Lockerbie. In the council chambers is a stained glass memorial window dedicated to Pan Am Flight 103. The window’s six panels — three small and three large — depict the flags of the 21 countries where the victims were from. The window is best viewed at night, when the sun has gone down and light from inside the building shines on the stained glass.

The Memorial Room at Tundergarth Church

The nose cone of Pan Am Flight 103 crashed in a sheep pasture across Tundergarth Church, where the Tundergarth Memorial Room is located. Inside is the Book of Remembrance, which lists the victims’ names, ages and nationalities. A wall plaque reads, “There are three things that last: faith, hope and love. And the greatest of these is love.” There is also a Visitor Book where those who come to the room can write down their thoughts and reflections. Some are family members who come to remember their loved ones, while others are visitors from countries such as the United States, Libya and Thailand.

Published on October 26, 2015 at 11:27 pm

Contact Clare: clramire@syr.edu