ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 18, 1996 TAG: 9603180079
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: DUNBLANE, SCOTLAND
SOURCE: Associated Press
Queen Elizabeth II came with flowers and sympathy, and a nation paused in silence Sunday to mourn 16 murdered children and their teacher.
``She obviously felt for us,'' said Dr. Jim Herbert, a local physician who was one of the first on the scene Wednesday after Thomas Hamilton opened fire on a kindergarten gym class then killed himself.
The queen and her daughter, Princess Anne, arrived after the town marked a somber and tearful Mothering Day at church. She placed a bouquet at the school gate - one tribute among thousands - with a simple card: ``With deepest sympathy, Elizabeth R.''
At Dunblane Cathedral, the Rev. Colin McIntosh recalled the tiny victims of an attack that no one will ever understand.
``We are remembering every boy and girl in that class because we know how happy they were and how much fun they had together and how much their parents loved them and how unfair and wrong it all seems to be, and we don't understand it,'' McIntosh told the children in the packed congregation.
``Even the grown-ups don't understand why this has happened,'' McIntosh said at the service, which was broadcast nationally.
A minute's silence fell across Britain at 9:30 a.m., observed in streets, shops and churches and by broadcasters. At London's Heathrow Airport and other big airports, planes due to depart delayed starting up engines, and passengers stood in silence at the four terminals.
Television screens silently rolled smiling pictures of the 11 girls and five boys slain along with teacher Gwenne Mayor.
In Dunblane's small Roman Catholic church, a swollen congregation of 400 joined in praying, ``As we mourn their passing from this life, comfort us with the knowledge that they live now in your loving embrace.''
Three of the murdered children were Catholics.
The queen visited the school, the cathedral and the hospital in nearby Stirling where some of the 12 injured children were treated. Two teachers were also injured.
Craig Paterson, a ginger-haired 11-year-old, told the queen that bullets had smashed into his classroom, next to the gym. He said the class didn't hesitate when their teacher shouted, ``Everybody duck now!''
``Thank goodness they did what they were told,'' Craig's mother, Elizabeth Paterson, quoted the queen as saying.
Among the people waiting outside the school when the queen laid her flowers was Jeanne Brown, 50, who had come from Glasgow with her mother and her son to place their own bouquet.
``When you put your flowers down,'' Brown said, ``you can really feel your heart swelling up.''
Sunday marked the first time a reigning monarch had visited Dunblane since Queen Victoria came in 1842.
The queen's visit, within days of the tragedy, contrasted with the royal family's reaction to the bombing that killed 270 people in a Pan Am jumbo jet in the town of Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988.
In that instance, Prince Andrew offended some by appearing to show more concern about the American victims, and it was nearly a month before a senior royal - Prince Charles - visited Lockerbie.
The school is to reopen Friday after a week of funerals beginning today. The first will be for two 5-year-olds who were best friends, Emma Crozier and Joanna Ross.
The massacre has raised questions about how Hamilton, who was widely regarded as unstable and unsavory but had a clean police record, was licensed to own four handguns under Britain's strict gun-control laws.
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Queen Elizabeth visits Dunblane, Scotland, onby CNBSunday. She placed a bouquet at the school gate, visited the school
where 14 children died and the hospital in nearby Stirling where
some of the 12 injured children were treated. color.