Jonathan Felts

Today is the start of Syracuse University’s annual Remembrance Week.  35 students studying abroad through the Syracuse University study abroad program returning home for Christmas were among the 259 passengers and crew members killed when a bomb detonated in the forward cargo hold of Pan Am 103 at 31,000 feet over Lockerbie, Scotland on December 21, 1988. 11 residents of Lockerbie were killed on the ground. Each fall, Syracuse University observes Remembrance Week to honor all 270 people lost in the attack. The chairs on the grass in front of Hendricks Chapel represent where each of the students was sitting in the 747 on the night of December 21.  In the wake of the tragedy, Syracuse established the Remembrance Scholarship as a tribute to the students lost, as a way to reflect and move forward in their memory. Every year, scholarships are awarded to 35 seniors, one for each student killed in the bombing.  The scholarship recipients focus on education and service, planning Remembrance Week and teaching the campus community about terrorism.  Honored and extremely humbled to have attended Syracuse University Remembrance Week last year and meet with families who lost loved ones on Pan Am 103.   The man accused of building the bomb that brought down Pan Am 103 was captured by a militia group in Libya in 2022.  He is now in United States custody awaiting trial, almost four decades after the attack.