The red emergency phone had never rung before. When it finally did on December 21st, 1988, trauma nurse Tony Bonner and the Medic One rapid response team knew they were facing something unprecedented. A jumbo jet had crashed in Lockerbie, Scotland, and they were racing toward one of the worst aviation disasters in history.

Tony's journey to that pivotal night was anything but straightforward. From seminary school at age 11 where he was preparing for priesthood (despite becoming what he calls an "evangelical atheist" by 15), to psychiatric nursing where he handled volatile patients including two men both convinced they were Jesus Christ, Tony's career path defied convention. Eventually drawn to emergency medicine for its adrenaline and the opportunity to make life-or-death differences, he found himself on Scotland's elite trauma response team, Medic One.

Nothing could have prepared them for Lockerbie. Racing through stormy winter weather at breakneck speeds in a police Range Rover, Tony and his colleagues tried reassuring each other they could handle what awaited. The scene that greeted them was apocalyptic – houses obliterated, fires burning everywhere, jet fuel running down gutters, and wreckage scattered across miles. Following a local GP's lead up Tundergarth Hill, they made a surreal discovery that encapsulates the jarring nature of the disaster – the cockpit of Pan Am Flight 103 lying in a field among grazing sheep.

This vivid, first-hand account offers rare insight into the human experience behind disaster response. Beyond the technical aspects of emergency medicine, we witness the fear, doubt, and determination of those who step forward when tragedy strikes. Join us for this two-part episode as Tony recounts his extraordinary experience at Lockerbie and shares how it eventually led him toward an entirely new career as a criminal prosecutor.

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