30 years ago today - we shall never forget

30 years ago today, flight Pan Am 103 was blown out of the sky by a terrorist bomb, with the wreckage landing on the town of Lockerbie.

I was a lad when this happened (12 years old) and at the time when it happened, I was in my local paper shop in Dumfries, and we heard the rumble - we commented at the time that it was strange to have thunder at the time of year, not realising what had actually happened.

Soon after, at home, I saw the captions start on the TV calling in all medical staff to the local hospital, and calling all fire service staff into the fire station, and knew something big had happened. Then the news started to come through. At first, it was the rumours amongst neighbours - a petrol station had blown up being the main one. Then the truth started to filter through, and we watched absolutely horrified as the details of the Lockerbie Disaster filtered through.

Over the years later, I met and knew many people who were affected by the events, and actually lived with one (by then) ex-fireman for a short time; he was so badly affected by the things that he had seen, he was an alcoholic and the drink was his way of blotting it all out.

The people of Lockerbie did what they would always do, and would do to this day - they opened their hearts and their homes to relatives of the passengers, and to the emergency service staff amongst others; and those people of Lockerbie should hold their heads high today, albeit with deep sadness at the same time.

Let us never forget.

'The wall of flames was shocking, the devastation incredible': firefighter remembers Lockerbie | Daily Mail Online