On December 21, 1988, the bombing of PanAm 103 took the life of NAFUSA member Rick Hartunian’s 21 year old sister, Lynne, over Lockerbie, Scotland. Rick (Obama appointee), NAFUSA member Dan French (Clinton appointee), and former U.S. Attorney Glenn Suddaby (Bush appointee) traveled with their spouses and Glenn’s fiancé to Lockerbie, Scotland to participate in the Cycle to Syracuse, an idea conceived by now retired Lockerbie Police Officer Colin Dorrance to honor the 270 victims of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which occurred 30 years ago. The journey, which is summarized in this video clip, https://youtu.be/6OOeNzmH1ls , was meant to symbolically complete the journey that Rick’s sister Lynne and the other 258 lost passengers, together with 11 Lockerbie residents, were unable to complete. Dan is the General Counsel at Syracuse University; Glenn is a the Chief U.S. District Judge in the NDNY, and Glenn’s fiancé, Jill Denny, is a senior assistant to the Chancellor and helped staff the event for Syracuse University, which sent a contingent of students and faculty to Scotland on October 13 to start the first leg of the ride, from Lockerbie to Edinburgh.  Dan cycled that 80 mile trip, wearing a photograph of Rick’s sister along the way.

After the trip through Scotland, the journey continued from Washington DC, where the Lockerbie riders began the 600 mile US cycling leg, up the Eastern seaboard through New York City and into Upstate New York, through Albany and finally onto Syracuse.  In Syracuse, the Lockerbie riders — accompanied by Dan and Glenn for the final 60 mile leg of the journey — were greeted by families and students and participated in Remembrance Week ceremonies at Syracuse University, honoring all of the victims of the tragedy, including the 35 Syracuse students lost in the bombing.

In recalling the events of 30 years ago, Rick Hartunian explained that “while the pain of losing a loved one never goes away, coping with such terrible loss is made easier by the kind gestures of friends who, like Dan, Glenn, the Lockerbie riders and all those who participated in these remembrance events, show that gestures of love and brotherhood will always outlast and overcome the forces of hatred and evil that too often challenge us in ways we never could imagine.”

At the top is a photograph of the three former NDNY USAs (Dan French, Rick Hartunian and Glenn Suddaby) at the beginning of the journey in Lockerbie on October 13, 2018. Below is a photo of the three former US Attorney colleagues at the journey’s end in Syracuse, New York on November 2, 2018.