LOCKERBIE GARDEN OF REMEMBRANCE

The Lockerbie Garden of Remembrance at Dryfesdale Cemetery commemorates the 270 victims of the so-called Lockerbie Air Disaster. ‘Disaster’ is a euphemism – it was, in fact, a terrorist attack and, at the time of writing, the deadliest in UK history.  A bomb was planted on Pan-Am Flight 103 from Frankfurt to Detroit via London Heathrow and New York.  The aircraft blew up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie at about 7pm on 21 December 1988, scattering debris and bodies over a wide area. Large sections of the aircraft fell on the town, destroying houses.  243 passengers and 16 crew died from the aircraft and 11 people on the ground.  Those murdered were aged from 2 months to 82 years old and from 21 nations.  190 were US citizens (many of them young students) and 43 were UK subjects.

The garden is situated at the back of the cemetery, on the right, with lawns, flower beds and paths. The main memorial is set into the wall of the cemetery with three large stone tablets, the names in six columns.  There are other individual and private remembrance stones and plaques in the lawn, around the garden and on the wall.