He had last seen his family members at his wedding in India. Dixit, a graduate of Wright State University medical school, had returned home earlier to complete his residency at a Cleveland hospital. His bride remained in India to receive clearance to immigrate to the United States.
It was the second time a national tragedy had struck his family. Dixit’s 14-year-old brother, Prabhakar, died in the Xenia tornado in 1974.
Today he is an obstetrician/gynecologist practicing in California, and he has a family again — Sandhya, his wife of 20 years, and two teenage children, the oldest of whom is about to start college.
The teenagers never met their grandparents — respected Central State University professor Om Dixit and his wife Shanti, both 54 — but they know about their legacy. They know about their 29-year-old aunt, Garima Rattan, and her children, 3-year-old Suruchi Rattan and 2-year-old Anmol Rattan, all victims of the bombing.
“They were very religious, God-fearing, very compassionate people and I have tried to pass that on to my children,” Dixit said. “My father was a scholar of Gandhi and Martin Luther King. It’s ironic he would die from such an act of violence.”
Unlike many of the surviving families, Dixit isn’t angered by the Scottish government’s release last week of convicted Pan Am bomber Abdel Baset Ali Megrahi on “compassionate grounds.”
“The first few years I was very angry, but over time I became focused on my family and my family’s future,” Dixit said. “I don’t know all the details, but I am ready to accept the decision of the Scottish government.”
The government showed compassion to Megrahi because he is said to be dying of cancer. But other local survivors see nothing compassionate about Megrahi’s release, which has brought fresh pain to the families of his 270 victims.
Doug Malicote, 22, and his wife Wendy, 21, were on their way home to Lebanon from Doug’s Army base in Germany to celebrate the holidays — and their fourth wedding anniversary — with their families. The high school sweethearts married shortly after they graduated from Lebanon High School in 1984. “We didn’t want her to be married that young,” recalled Wendy’s mother, Marline Forsythe of Waynesville, “but they were just determined to be together.”
After the crash, the thoroughness and thoughtfulness of the Scottish investigators impressed Forsythe: “They assured us that even though they don’t have the death penalty or even life sentences, he would never get out of prison,” she said.
Now, as footage airs throughout the world of the terrorist’s return to his native Libya, Forsythe says disgustedly, “This evil man is being given a hero’s welcome.”
Megrahi’s release makes no sense to Doug’s mother, Ruth Malicote of Lebanon: “We’re totally confused and angered — how could they let this happen? I just don’t understand how they can release a man who has killed so many people.
“They say he has only three months to live, but that doesn’t mean anything,” Malicote added. “He could be a suicide bomber again — what does he have to lose? Or he could recruit others.”
Enraged family members have pointed out that Megrahi served just over 11 days for each of his victims. “Eight years isn’t life in prison,” said Malicote. “Life means life. We lost our son, and that’s forever.”
Added Forsythe: "We always knew that it was much broader in scope and that others were involved, but at least they got somebody. Wendy is still gone, but we always felt somebody should pay for this."
In the end, it seemed, only the families paid.
Doug Malicote didn’t live out his dream of an Army career; Wendy isn’t there at the holidays to be “generous to a fault,” the girl who would part with her last nickel.
“Our holidays are not like they should be,” Malicote said. “We’re always missing them. We were very proud of Doug and of Wendy, too. We feel we were robbed of the grandchildren they would have given us.”
It’s a bizarre form of compassion, indeed, that would cut short the sentence of a man who showed not an ounce of compassion for 270 fellow human beings — 10 of them children. Two of the victims were two months old.
“The reasoning is that he needs to spend time with his family because he’s on his deathbed,” Malicote said. “But our children never got the chance to say goodbye to their families.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2209 or mmccarty@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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