ARLINGTON, Va. — The sun began to peer through the clouds, shining on the Lockerbie Cairn. A shadow of the 11-foot tower, built of 270 blocks of red Scottish sandstone, appeared on the grass, clear and precise. It was the silhouette of the memorial, a gift to the United States from the people of Scotland.

It was 2:03 p.m., the exact moment 30 years ago when Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland.

Several hundred people sat on folding chairs under a white tent Friday afternoon to honor the legacies of those lost in the terrorist attack. Some bowed their heads and cried during what has become an annual ritual at Arlington National Cemetery: a memorial service just outside the nation’s capital honoring the victims of the 1988 tragedy. All 259 people aboard and 11 people on the ground were killed, including 35 Syracuse University students returning from study abroad trips.

After the opening remarks, the names of all 270 people killed were read aloud. Behind their voices was the occasional hum of an airplane taking off from nearby Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. A moment of silence was held near the beginning of the 90-minute service, and services were also held at the Dryfesdale Cemetery in Lockerbie and Hendricks Chapel in Syracuse.

Wreaths were displayed at Arlington National Cemetery for victims of the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing. Alexandra Moreo | Senior Staff Photographer

In Arlington and beyond, Friday marked 30 years since the tragedy, but for the family members of the victims, it was another year of grief.

“It might take me a little while to get through this,” said Kara Weipz, whose older brother Richard Monetti was an SU student killed. She reached for a tissue. “I’m good,” she said, before describing Richard’s love for music.

When she was a 10th-grader in 1988, Weipz was sitting in fourth-period history class at Cherry Hill High School East in New Jersey. About two-thirds of the way through an indie rock concert, a type of music he loved, Weipz had two thoughts: first, how excited she was to tell him about the music and how much he’d enjoy it. Second, that she wouldn’t be able to tell him. Richard had died two days earlier.

At around 2:30 p.m. Friday, Weipz introduced SU Chancellor Kent Syverud to the podium. He began to choke up as he discussed the importance of continuing to honor the victims and their families through the Lockerbie and Remembrance Scholars, the Pan Am Flight 103/Lockerbie Air Disaster Archives at Bird Library and the tie between SU and Lockerbie.

“The legacy of 270 people will shine through this night and in the decades ahead,” Syverud told the audience. “We will honor their legacy based on hope, decency and grace.”

Other speakers included Alison Di Rollo QC, the solicitor general of Scotland; Rod Rosenstein, United States deputy attorney general; Elaine Chao, U.S. secretary of transportation; and David Pekoske, TSA administrator, who promised a terrorist attack would not impact the aviation industry again. Pekoske echoed a remark prevalent throughout Remembrance Week at SU and in Lockerbie: “We Remember Them.”

Arlington National Cemetery hosts an annual ceremony to honor those who died in the crash. Alexandra Moreo | Senior Staff Photographer

Di Rollo and Johnny Gwynne, the deputy chief constable of Police Scotland, both represented Scotland. Di Rollo didn’t promise everybody involved in the terrorist attack would be criminally prosecuted, but she vowed Scotland and the U.S. would continue seeking prosecution for all those responsible for the attack.

Gwynne followed Di Rollo, explaining the role of police in society and how officers are nothing more than “people with a uniform and special powers” who try to maintain peace. He repeatedly thanked the SU community for its support and connection to Scotland.

“Come with me now to the village of Lockerbie,” Gwynne said before quoting Scottish poet Robert Burns as a symbol of the SU-Lockerbie tie: “O my Luve is like a red, red rose … So deep in luve am I; And I will luve thee still, my dear, Till a’ the seas gang dry.”

Eight of the 35 SU victims were students of Lawrence Mason, a professor of visual communications in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. He is the co-author and chief photographer of “Looking for Lockerbie,” a book chronicling the town in southwestern Scotland. He has visited Lockerbie more than a dozen times, and he’s been touched by the gestures of kindness from the people there.

“Here on the shortest and darkest day of the year, I implore you to spread your own light in an uncertain world,” Mason said. “We honor the victims of Pan Am Flight 103 by being our best selves in their memory. Please go forward in the world and do something beautiful.”

After the speeches, families and friends of victims gathered at the Lockerbie Cairn. Beside a wreath, a young boy bumped into Jane Davis, mother of Shannon Davis, one of the 35 SU students. The boy’s grandfather, Frank Ciulla, was one of the victims, too. Davis hugged him as he learned another piece of the tragedy — that it was the result of malicious acts.

The boy wrapped his arms around Davis, held tight, and walked away with a tear falling down his cheek.

Published on December 22, 2018 at 5:57 pm

Contact Matthew: mguti100@syr.edu | @MatthewGut21