In a bleak, windswept graveyard they gathered yesterday to pay tribute to the 270 people who died in the Lockerbie bombing, 20 years to the day since Britain's worst terrorist outrage occurred in the sky above the town.
In a bleak, windswept graveyard they gathered yesterday to pay tribute to the 270 people who died in the Lockerbie bombing, 20 years to the day since Britain's worst terrorist outrage occurred in the sky above the town.
Families touched by the tragedy shed tears at the memory as they held each other for comfort beside the granite memorial to those who died - 259 of them on board Pan Am flight 103 from Heathrow to New York and another 11 on the ground.
Hope and optimism was the theme at a poignant wreath-laying ceremony at the town's Dryfesdale Cemetery, which was attended by 150 people from both sides of the Atlantic.
For many of the relatives the pain of an event which occurred a generation ago was obviously still raw. They sobbed and hugged as the mass of flowers were laid at the foot of granite memorial bearing the names of those who died.
The event was one of a series of ceremonies held both here and in America to mark the anniversary. There were also services at the chapel in Heathrow Airport, at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington DC and at Syracuse, New York state. Syracuse University lost 35 students in the bombing.
The sentiments of the town of Lockerbie itself were best summed up by local minister the Rev Sandy Stoddart. At a church service held last night - at the precise hour when the explosion occurred two decades ago - he said: "I can't speak for the families of those who died and I'm not sure that I have any right to speak for the people of Lockerbie, but I have a strong sense that Lockerbie feels that this commemoration is enough; many would like to have the town back."
