Mother of Terrier Killed in 1988 Lockerbie Plane Bombing Says Arrest “Only Brings Sadness”
This 1988 file photo shows the wreckage in Lockerbie, Scotland, of Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York. This week, 34 years later, US officials said a Libyan intelligence officer will face charges. AP Photo
Mother of Terrier Killed in 1988 Lockerbie Plane Bombing Says Arrest “Only Brings Sadness”
The family’s BU scholarship in honor of Pamela Posen (CAS’89) continues to help other students study abroad
It’s been 34 years since Bonnie Gregge’s daughter, Pamela Posen, then a senior psychology major at Boston University, was killed along wth 269 other people when a bomb exploded midair aboard Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, on December 21, 1988. But for her mother, the news this week that a Libyan man was finally in US custody in connection with making the bomb, merely resurfaced her pain.
“It only brings a lot of sadness up again, for all of the lives that were destroyed,” Gregge told BU Today from her home in Florida. “Is it satisfying? No, the pain is overwhelming. It is not a matter of closure, it’s just pain and overwhelming.”
A BU scholarship in Posen’s name continues to commemorate her: the Pamela Posen Endowed Memorial Scholarship is awarded to financially needy and worthy BU juniors and seniors to support travel for the recipient to study abroad.
Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi is in US custody. The Justice Department says he is accused of making the bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988. Photo by Alexandria Sheriff’s Office via AP
“We wanted to do something in her memory to honor her time abroad that she spent,” Gregge said. “That was so special to her, and we wanted to be able to help other students have the same experience that she had.”
Federal officials this week announced that Libyan intelligence officer Abu Agila Mas’ud was accused of building the explosive device that brought down the Boeing 747. He will face US criminal charges for what was the deadliest terror attack on British soil and was one of the largest terror attacks involving Americans (of the 270 victims, 190 were US citizens).
Mas’ud is charged with building the device used to blow up the plane just 38 minutes after it left London’s Heathrow Airport bound for New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. (Also among those killed were 35 Syracuse University students returning home for the holidays after a semester studying abroad.)
Posen, who was a poet and a music lover and was a month away from her 21st birthday, was the only Terrier on board the flight. She was on her way home to Harrison, N.Y., after spending a semester in London through a University of Maryland study abroad program.
In May 1989, BU awarded a posthumous degree to Posen (CAS’89).
Comments & Discussion
Boston University moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive, civil conversation. Abusive, profane, self-promotional, misleading, incoherent or off-topic comments will be rejected. Moderators are staffed during regular business hours (EST) and can only accept comments written in English. Statistics or facts must include a citation or a link to the citation.