Lockerbie’s Syracuse Trust scholars Tristan Woolley and Joshua Halliday have been representing the town at early key events in the USA to mark the 35th anniversary of the downing of Flight 103.
The best friends crossed the Atlantic to take up their educational journey of a lifetime in September after being selected for the programme, which was set up in the wake of the Pan Am Disaster, to undertake a year’s study at the New York State university in America.
And that has meant taking part in the university’s Remembrance Week which has the motto Look Back, Act Forward.
A total of 35 students from Syracuse were on the ill-fated Pan Am jet when it exploded over the town on December 21, 1988, killing 270 people who were passengers and staff and 11 Lockerbie residents.
(Image: Syracuse University)
It remains the worst act of terrorism on British soil and is still an active investigation.
As well as Lockerbie’s two freshmen, there are also 35 Remembrance Scholars at the university this year also honouring the lives of those lost to the bombing.
As most students are off campus in December, the university holds a Remembrance Week in October with many of the campus buildings lit in blue and a number of poignant tributes.
One saw the scholars poignantly sitting in solidarity in empty chairs on the Shaw Quadrangle for 35 minutes. The 35 chairs were arranged as the seats occupied by the students on Pan Am Flight 103.
Remembrance scholars also laid roses and decorated stones at the memorial wall at the Place of Remembrance, in front of the Hall of Languages, among the many tributes.
There was also a new exhibition, In Pursuit of Justice, which was curated by Pan Am 103 archivist Vanessa St.Oegger-Menn.
The university will also have an Observance Service for Remembrance in its Hendricks Chapel in December to mark the 35th anniversary.
