Father of Lockerbie victim follows daughter's call to action
ARLINGTON,Va. -- A videotape captures 16-year-old Melina Hudson one month before she died in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103. She was a New York exchange student then in England, and to her father, the tape captures her kindness and spirit.
The
tape held Melina's last words to the family, until nine months later, when residents of Lockerbie,
Scotland, recovered Melina's possessions from the debris. One in particular took Hudson's breath away.
"One of them was a school notebook which she had done doodling on the outside cover," Hudson says. "And under that, there was a statement, 'No one dies, unless they are forgotten.' I felt this was, in effect, a motto, as well as a call to action."
Hudson
responded to his daughter's words by leading two separate groups of Lockerbie
victims' families. The groups demanded and won a more aggressive investigation
of the bombing. And they repeatedly pushed Congress to improve
airport security.
He says he has tried to fulfill his daughter's words.
"And when my time is over, I hope that she will say, 'OK, you did what you could,'" Hudson says. "That's in my dreams, anyway."
Hudson often visits the Lockerbie Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, where the names of all 270 victims are etched in cast iron. He still comes here to tell his strong-willed 16-year-old her words and message are still alive.
