CYNTHIA MCFADDEN: At a time when the U.S. is on heightened alert following the attack on Iraq, it is ironic that today marks the 10th anniversary of one of the most horrific acts of terrorism in history. On December 21, 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was flying over Lockerbie, Scotland, when a bomb ripped through its forward cargo hold, killing all 258 people on board and 11 people on the ground.
(voice-over) All these years later, the pictures are still shocking -- huge chunks of twisted metal, clothes strewn everywhere, and the most indelible symbol -- an enormous white and blue nose section embedded in the earth. Among those who died were 189 Americans, including 35 students from a Syracuse University study-abroad program. In all, the victims, teachers, diplomats, musicians, attorneys, came from 21 nations. Investigators eventually determined that the bomb had been concealed in a Toshiba tape recorder and packed in an unaccompanied suitcase.
But it would be three years before the FBI and Scottish police filed any charges. In 1991, a grand jury in the U.S. indicted two men believed to be officers in the Libyan Intelligence Service. After another seven years of diplomatic and legal wrangling, there are still hopes that their trial, repeatedly delayed by the Libyan government, could be held as early as this month in the Netherlands. But a sizable roadblock has always been and continues to be Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi (ph). For many of the victims' families, justice is already too late. (on camera) Joining us now are Paul and Eleanor Hudson. We first met them 10 years ago after their 16-year-old daughter, Melina, was killed on the bombing of Flight 103. Melina, an exchange student, was on her way home for Christmas.
Thank you for being here with me. Ten years later...
ELEANOR HUDSON, Mother of Pan Am 103 Victim: Yes.
CYNTHIA MCFADDEN: You chose not to participate in any of the organized events. Why not, Mrs. Hudson?
ELEANOR HUDSON: I really felt that I did not need to go to the abyss of horror again. It took so long and so many years to feel better. It was such an effort to want to live again, and to take care of my other two sons. And I think that just wanting to live, that I just was afraid -- I have to take care of myself mentally and we -- we will go to church and we go to the cemetery and we will sing at the cemetery, and so we will.
CYNTHIA MCFADDEN: With your family.
ELEANOR HUDSON: Yes, we will mark this day, but we -- I do not want to be with a group today, no.
CYNTHIA MCFADDEN: You had been to see your daughter just six weeks before she died.
ELEANOR HUDSON: Yes.
CYNTHIA MCFADDEN: Tell us about her.
ELEANOR HUDSON: I just wanted to make sure she was all right. I went over to make sure she had a winter coat. Strange as that sounds, I wanted her to have a winter coat. My instinct said you better go over and make sure she has a coat, make sure things are in place and we had had another exchange student, so I decided to visit both of them. And she was really strong. We always felt that we would have to send a sympathy card to the man who married her. She was a very strong girl and a tremendous worker. Would have been a great contributor.
CYNTHIA MCFADDEN: Mr. Hudson, you actually -- tell me first how you found out about the crash.
PAUL HUDSON, Father of Pan Am 103 Victim: I got a call from our travel agent saying that Pan Am flight 103 had crashed and she thought that our daughter may be on it, and I went home and I told my wife Eleanor. We turned on the television set and there were the flames of Lockerbie.
CYNTHIA MCFADDEN: I know that to go through that day, it must be etched in your memory. Part of your -- shall we say the difficulty in healing has been that the people suspected of actually causing this crash still have not been tried. You're an attorney, Mr. Hudson.
PAUL HUDSON: It's very frustrating because we've known who - - at least the -- at least who the primary people are for about seven or eight years, two Libyan intelligence agents were indicted in 1991. They still have not been brought to justice and our concern is at that point it may be time for justice now or never.
CYNTHIA MCFADDEN: You're concerned about the role that the U.S. has failed to play in bringing these two men to justice?
PAUL HUDSON: Yes, President Clinton has been very good in sympathizing with family members, he'll be attending, I believe today, the third memorial service that he's attended at Arlington Cemetery, but he's been short on action. We really need him as a commander in chief and as president to take action to bring justice in this case.
CYNTHIA MCFADDEN: Are you optimistic there will ever be a trial? PAUL HUDSON: I think there should be a trial. There's no reason not to be. Even if there's not a criminal trial, there are civil trials pending in the U.S. against Libya. At the very least, there needs to be a trial to make it perfectly clear that Libya is culpable and to lay out the proof that the U.S. and the U.K. say they have.
CYNTHIA MCFADDEN: A trial would be one way of finally helping to heal from what I'm sure most us can't even manage. Thank you both for being with us. ELEANOR HUDSON: Thank you for remembering her.
CYNTHIA MCFADDEN: Thank you for remembering her. Good Morning America continues after this.
(Commercial Break)