It was an emotional moment for Josephine Donaldson as she placed her hand on the memorial wall, dedicated to the 270 people killed in the Lockerbie bombing, and laid flowers for "her two girls".
Every year since Libyan terrorists detonated a bomb on Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, on December 21, 1988, Ms Donaldson has paid tribute to two of the US students from Syracuse University who were killed.
It is 35 years since she found a handbag containing 21st birthday cards in her garden belonging to student Nicole Boulanger, whose body was never recovered.
Along with two other Lockerbie residents, Ms Donaldson became known as the laundry lady after she volunteered to clean, iron and return all the victims' belongings to their loved ones and in doing so discovered more birthday cards that belonged to Amy Beth Shapiro, who had also been killed. The two girls were born on the same day and died on the same day and every year since Ms Donaldson lays flowers for the victims she calls "my girls".
On Thursday she joined others at a rose-laying ceremony in Dryfesdale Cemetery to mark the 35th anniversary.
“We remember all those taken in a senseless act of violence 35 years ago,” Rev Jeff Brown said as he lit the first of four candles in memory of the victims.
“We remember also the outpouring of love that continues today from the people of Lockerbie and the surrounding area, to those in Syracuse and all the other countries.”
Wreaths are also being laid at Rosebank Crescent, which became the site of a huge crater, and Sherwood Crescent, where houses were also destroyed.
All 259 passengers and crew were killed in the terrorist attack along with 11 Lockerbie residents on the ground.
The crime scene covered 2,190 square kilometres, including rural Tundergarth, where wreaths were laid outside Tundergarth Church on Thursday. It sits opposite the field where the nose cone of the plane fell to the ground.
Victims were of 21 nationalities and 190 were American, including 35 students from Syracuse University in New York.
Services were also held on Thursday in the US at Syracuse University and at Arlington National Cemetery, in Virginia, where for the first time, a collection of colour photos of the victims was unveiled.
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Moira Shearer, Josephine Donaldson and Elma Pringle became known as the 'laundry ladies’ after the Lockerbie terror atrocity. Some of the victims' belongings had fallen into the gardens of their properties. When they discovered that the US were not financing the return of the victims’ property to their loved ones, they set about the mammoth task of washing and sorting through 11,000 items to ensure they were sent back to families. Photo: Pan Am 103 Lockerbie Legacy Foundation -
The women spent four months decontaminating, washing and returning more than 11,000 personal possessions back to the loved ones of those killed in the disaster. Getty Images -
"I think it was just one of these things, wasn’t it? We never actually thought about it at the time," Elma Pringle told the FBI. "It was just, I think, everybody wanted to do something. And that was the thing. We were able to go and help in the laundry." She said the entire town wanted to help in some way. "There was a lot of people—older people—that couldn't come and do that. But they baked. And they would turn up at the kitchens with sponge cakes and scones, just forever," she said. "It was just for something to do. You wanted to just do something—rather than just sit there—and help." Getty Images -
Victoria Cummock, right, lost her husband John, left, in the attack and described the ladies actions as "unbelievable". "I got my husband’s clothes back laundered, it was odd as he never brought them back clean," she said. "Then I discovered this small group of women had done it for us. Their humanity was amazing." Photo: Pan Am 103 Lockerbie Legacy Foundation -
Thousands of items of property belonging to those on the flight were collected. Birthday cards, shoes and briefcases were among the property collected to be returned to relatives. Getty Images -
"The people of Lockerbie cannot have been more wonderful to us, the way they cared for our loved ones and our loved ones' effects," said Kara Weipz, whose brother Richard was killed in the attack. Getty Images
Organisers of the permanent memorial in Lockerbie said the impact of the bombing has been lifelong for survivors, and they are working to create a centre similar to the 9/11 museum in New York so the tragedy can be understood.
Lori Carnochan, 35, from the Tundergarth Kirks Trust, said some people who remember the Lockerbie bombing are still trying to get in touch with victims’ families to pass on messages about their loved ones.
“We speak about ‘our survivors’, the people who weren’t killed in Lockerbie," she said.
“There’s people in Lockerbie who are only now speaking about it. There are people who were five, six, seven years old when it happened, who were still having nightmares into their teens because of trauma they suffered that night.
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People lay wreaths before a remembrance service at Tundergarth Church to mark the 35th anniversary of the Lockerbie bombing, in Lockerbie, Scotland. All photos: PA -
Portraits of some of the victims in the Remembrance Room in the grounds of Tundergarth Church, where the service was held -
A wreath from the Pan Am 103 Lockerbie Legacy Foundation -
People gather in the grounds of Tundergarth Church -
A representative from Police Scotland lays a wreath -
People gather to pay their respects
“Lockerbie has a population of only 4,000 and a huge amount of people have PTSD. It’s such a small, close-knit community, lots of the victims were well known. Rural communities look after each other.
“Despite the terror which was rained down on them, people in Lockerbie were so welcoming to people from all over the world.
“Sherwood Crescent is where the huge crater was, houses were literally just vaporised. Rosebank Crescent is where houses were completely demolished and a huge amount of bodies found. At Tundergarth, around 100 bodies were found in the fields.
“These were people who were on the plane. It is just horrific.”
The regime of Muammar Qaddafi was blamed for the atrocity. One Libyan citizen was later convicted of involvement in the bombing and sentenced to jail in Scotland.
Another Libyan, accused of making the bomb, is due to stand trial in the US in 2025.
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After a three-year investigation by the FBI and Scotland’s Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary into the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, arrest warrants were issued for two former Libyan intelligence operatives, Abdelbaset Al Megrahi, pictured, and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah in November 1991. AFP -
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi handed over the two men for trial at Camp Zeist, the Netherlands, in 1999. Megrahi, pictured, was convicted and jailed for life in 2001 – he was subsequently released in 2009 on compassionate grounds while terminally ill with cancer, and died in Libya in 2012. Megrahi was a Libyan intelligence officer and had collected the bomb in Malta and ordered the bombmaker to set the timer to detonate 11 hours later. The bomb was surrounded by clothes Megrahi had purchased in Malta. Getty Images -
Court proceedings started in May 2000 and the judges announced their verdict on January 31, 2001. They were unanimous in finding Lamen Khalifa Fhimah not guilty. It had been alleged he had collected the suitcase containing the bomb in Malta and had placed it on the luggage conveyor belt. Mr Fhimah was released from custody and returned to his home in Libya in February 2001. -
Last year the US extradited Abu Agila Mohammad Ma'sud from Libya and charged him with making the bomb. He is expected to stand trial next year. “The Justice Department has worked for more than three decades to seek justice for the 270 innocent victims of the Pan Am 103 bombing,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division said. “Mr Mas'ud is charged for his alleged role in this heinous act of terror and he will appear in an American courtroom to answer for those crimes. To those who would seek to harm Americans anywhere in the world, know that we will find you however far you run and we will hold you accountable however how long it takes.” It is alleged Mr Mas'ud worked for the Libyan intelligence service between 1973 to 2011 as a technical expert in building explosive devices. In the winter of 1988, it is alleged he was directed to fly to Malta with a prepared suitcase where he met Megrahi who instructed him to set the timer on the device in the suitcase for the following morning, so that the explosion would occur exactly 11 hours later. Subsequently, Mr Mas’ud boarded a Libyan flight to Tripoli. Reuters -
Pan Am 103 was destroyed by a bomb hidden inside a stereo, killing 270 people. The original trial was told that the bomb had been placed on Air Malta flight KM180 and transferred to Pan Am flight 103. Clothes that covered the bomb were thought to have been bought in Malta and a shop owner identified Al Megrahi as the man who bought them. Remnants of the clothes were found at the crash site. Getty Images -
In 2003 Libya claimed responsibility for the attack as part of a deal to lift UN sanctions. It paid more than $2 billion in compensation to the families of the victims. A month after it accepted culpability the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution lifting sanctions imposed on it over the bombing. Getty Images
On Thursday, Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf paid tribute to the “strength and compassion victims’ families and the community of Lockerbie have shown”.
“On the anniversary of the terrible events of December 21, 1988, in Lockerbie, my thoughts and sympathies remain with all those who lost loved ones on board Pan Am Flight 103 and those in the town of Lockerbie,” he said.
“My thoughts are also with the emergency workers who responded in the immediate aftermath of the atrocity. Their rapid response along with the people of Lockerbie while facing extraordinary circumstances demonstrated extreme kindness and humanity in the face of such horrific events.
“While those lost on that night can never be replaced, and the events have had a lasting impact on the town, I know links were forged following the disaster, including the Syracuse University scholarship programme with Lockerbie Academy.
“The strength and compassion that both the victims’ families and the community of Lockerbie have shown has created a legacy of friendship and ensured that the memory of those who died lives on.”
Lockerbie bombings - in pictures
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The remnants of a Pan Am commercial aircraft lie in a field in Lockerbie, Scotland, in December 1988. AFP -
Local residents look at one of the four engines of the Pan Am jet on a street in Lockerbie. AFP -
The Boeing 747 'Clipper Maid of the Seas, which was flying from London to New York, was destroyed when a bomb was detonated in its forward cargo hold. AFP -
The bombing of the jumbo jet killed all 259 people on board and another 11 people on the ground. AFP -
Police and investigators look at what remains of the nose of Pan Am Flight 103 in a field in Lockerbie in December 1988. AP -
The nose section of the crashed Boeing 747. AP -
Houses destroyed by the downed jet. Getty -
The bombing remains the deadliest terrorist attack to have taken place in the UK. Getty -
A memorial to those killed in the 1988 bombing in Lockerbie. Reuters -
Abu Agila Mohammad Masud, second from left, a Libyan man accused of making the bomb that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103, has been taken into US custody. He was charged by the US two years ago in connection with the Lockerbie bombing. Reuters -
Some of the destruction caused by Pan Am Flight 103 after it crashed. Getty -
Investigators reconstructed parts of the jet and proved a bomb caused the crash. Getty -
Abdelbaset Al Megrahi, the only person convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, was released early from prison after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. He died in May 2012. Many have maintained that Al Megrahi was innocent.
Lockerbie remains the worst terrorist attack on British soil and the second worst to affect the US.
On Thursday a trial date was finally set for May 2025 for the man accused of creating the bomb.
Police Scotland’s Deputy Chief Constable Malcolm Graham attended a memorial service in Washington, which he said was a “great honour”.
“My thoughts today remain with everyone affected by the bombing of Pan Am 103 and the terrible loss of 270 lives. They will never be forgotten,” he said.
“The impact of this horrific crime continues to have a profound effect in Lockerbie, across Scotland and internationally as we mark the 35th anniversary.
“We continue working closely with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, and in the US with colleagues from the FBI and the Department of Justice, on both the investigation and supporting the ongoing prosecution in the US courts.
“Time is no barrier to justice and Police Scotland remains committed to bringing those responsible for this atrocity to justice.”
