I remember well when Pan Am 103 was eviscerated in the air just before Christmas, on 21 December 1988. The brother of my brother's friend was on that flight, and his parents lived just down the street from mine. Out of respect for their privacy, I'll call him Jack, but that's not his real name.
Jack was coming back from a business trip in Frankfurt. Typically he'd fly straight to Detroit, but this trip was different. It was Christmas, and he wanted to see his daughter. So he hopped a different plane to go see his daughter, who lived in New York. In trying to see his daughter, he was tragically and viciously prevented from ever seeing her again. Cowards stole him from his family and his precious daughter.
Here's a a description of what the passengers likely experienced, from Wikipedia:
A Scottish Fatal Accident Inquiry, which opened on 1 October 1990, heard that, when the cockpit broke off, tornado-force winds tore through the fuselage, tearing clothes off passengers and turning insecurely-fixed items like food and drink trolleys into lethal objects. Because of the sudden change in air pressure, the gases inside the passengers' bodies would have expanded to four times their normal volume, causing their lungs to swell and then collapse. People and objects not fixed down would have been blown out of the aircraft into the −46 °C (−50.8 °F) outside air, their 31,000-foot (9,400 m) fall lasting about two minutes.[13][page needed] Some passengers remained attached to the fuselage by their seat belts, crashing in Lockerbie strapped to their seats.[citation needed]
Although the passengers would have lost consciousness through lack
of oxygen, forensic examiners believe some of them might have regained consciousness as they fell
toward oxygen-rich lower altitudes. Forensic pathologist Dr William G.
Eckert, director of the Milton Helpern International Center of Forensic
Sciences at Wichita State University,
who examined the autopsy evidence, told Scottish police he believed the
flight crew, some of the flight attendants, and 147 other passengers
survived the bomb blast and depressurization of the aircraft, and may
have been alive on impact. None of these passengers showed signs of
injury from the explosion itself, or from the decompression and disintegration of the aircraft.[citation needed]
That Christmas Eve, as many in the neighborhood went to Mass to celebrate the Birth of Jesus, Jack's family sat in the front row near us in the small chapel in the Detroit suburb, the sadness on their faces indescribable. Yet in their sadness they found the strength to carry up the gifts to the awaiting priest. At 20 years old, that moment had a profound affect on me. It proved that despite tragedy, faith can redeem us and fill us with grace.
I recently met the son of another victim of that flight. As a result of losing his dad, Billy, I'll call him, had a tough time moving forward and went through a dark period for several years. He's doing well now, but his story reminds us all that there are many living victims of that flight, many who still suffer greatly for their losses of 21 years ago.
I can't imagine what Jack's family or Billy's family are thinking knowing one of the cowards responsible was released from prison yesterday, but I know I'm disgusted by the "compassion" received by the cowardly murderer. Yet I can take some solace in knowing that justice will be God's, and it will be eternal. No, Pan Am 103 will never be forgotten.
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