( CNN ) -- One by one , surviving family members and friends stepped up to a podium in Arlington National Cemetery . Before them were short lists of names , which included their loved ones -- fathers , sisters , sons and more . Slowly , they read the names , each one punctuated with a ring of a bell , to honor and remember who was lost . A quarter of a century ago Saturday , Pan Am Flight 103 exploded in the evening skies above Lockerbie , in Scotland , killing all 259 people on board and 11 more on the ground . Events Saturday in the United States and Britain marked the 25th anniversary of a bombing that devastated families on both sides of the Atlantic . It remains the deadliest act of terrorism on British soil . At Arlington , a crowd used to gathering in bitter cold to remember this day each year sat beneath unseasonably warm Virginia skies . They heard from dignitaries , including Attorney General Eric Holder and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Scotland David Mundell . And they paid tribute to their collective loss , their fight for justice and aviation security reform , and their sense of community -- not just with each other , but with those in Lockerbie . `` You created light out of darkness , and out of that light has come a lasting legacy , '' said former FBI Director Robert Mueller . `` We mark your strength ... May the thought of your loved ones bring a smile to your lips . '' A bagpiper honored the anniversary with `` Amazing Grace . '' Children placed flowers at the cemetery 's Lockerbie Cairn . A wreath was laid and taps was played . The explosion left 189 Americans dead . Across the Atlantic , services of remembrance were held Saturday evening at Westminster Abbey in London and at Dryfesdale Church in Lockerbie . The anniversary was also marked at Syracuse University in New York , which was especially hard hit by the disaster . `` Today marks the 25th anniversary of the tragic crash of Pan Am Flight 103 in Lockerbie , '' Gov . Andrew Cuomo said in a press statement . `` That day , 270 innocent lives , including 35 students from Syracuse University who were returning home for the holidays , were taken from us . As we commemorate those we lost in this horrific terrorist attack , the families and loved ones of the victims are in the thoughts and prayers of all New Yorkers . Our state and nation will never forget their loss . '' The service , in the university 's Hendricks Chapel , started at 2:03 p.m . ET , the time the bomb exploded ( 7:03 p.m. in Scotland ) , and was scheduled to include the recitation of a specially composed `` Common Prayer for Peace . '' Composed jointly by Hendricks Chapel Dean Tiffany Steinwert and the Rev . Sandy Stoddart of Lockerbie , it includes these lines : `` Rising up from the ashes of tragedy , we proclaim our commitment to creating a better , more just world . '' Remembrance services were also planned at the university 's Lubin House in New York City . UK Prime Minister David Cameron , in a statement , paid tribute to the `` fortitude and resilience '' of those affected by the bombing and said it demonstrated how `` terrorist acts can not crush the human spirit . '' He said , `` Though 25 years have passed , memories of the 243 passengers , 16 crew and 11 Lockerbie residents who lost their lives on that terrible night have not dimmed . `` Over the last quarter of a century , much attention has been focused on the perpetrators of the atrocity . Today , our thoughts turn to its victims and to those whose lives have been touched and changed by what happened at Lockerbie that night . '' Cameron said a strong bond between the town of Lockerbie and Syracuse University , which offers scholarships to two Lockerbie students each year , represented a `` lasting and optimistic legacy '' that had emerged from tragedy . After a three-year investigation , U.S. and British investigators indicted two Libyans for murder in the bombing of the New York-bound Boeing 747 . Only one , Abdel Baset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi , was convicted . Megrahi died last year in Libya , having been released from prison in Scotland in 2009 on compassionate grounds because he had terminal cancer . Libya agreed in 2003 to pay $ 2.7 billion in compensation to the families of the bombing victims , although its late leader , Moammar Gadhafi , always remained cagey about admitting official Libyan involvement in the bombing .
Services are held in the United States and Britain to remember those killed . It 's been 25 years since Pan Am Flight 103 exploded in the skies above Glasgow , Scotland . Syracuse University lost 35 of its students who were on the ground . Prime Minister David Cameron says that of the 270 dead ` ` have not dimmed ''