MANCHESTER – For decades, the anniversary of the Hindenburg disaster was remembered at Hanger One at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst during a public ceremony. In a break of tradition, that didn’t happen this year but one township resident brought the Hindenburg experience to the township library.
Past ceremonies were hosted through cooperation of the Joint Base and the Navy Lakehurst Historical Society (NLHS). Special guests were always invited and last year they included Margherita Thielke, who witnessed the disaster as a child, Lakehurst resident Allen Hurley, the grandson of Allen Hagaman who was the one groundcrew worker who perished during the crash and frequent special guest speaker Dr. Horst Schirmer.
Schirmer’s father, Max Schirmer, was an engineer that worked on the Hindenburg. He noted the name Hindenburg came from a German Field Marshal from World War I. “It was built like a piece of art. It had eight crossings of the region and nothing ever happened.” Horst Schirmer had enjoyed a ride on the Hindenburg as a child.
The Navy Lakehurst Historical Society did not hold a ceremony on May 6, the 87th anniversary of the Hindenburg tragedy. NLHS is in a transition of leadership and long-time President Carl Jablonski – often referred to as “Mr. Lakehurst” – told The Manchester Times that “I am on medical leave from NLHS.” NLHS Vice President Jennifer Suwak, who spoke during prior services, is no longer serving as vice president.
Public Affairs representatives of the Joint Base responded to inquiries from The Manchester Times late last month concerning the status of the annual ceremony. They stated, “the NLHS is a non-Federal entity, and we cannot speak on their behalf regarding their operations. JB MDL has not been notified on the details of the ceremony as of date (April 24). No official representatives of JB MDL, to include the Lakehurst Commander, have canceled the event or denied usage of the hangar to NLHS.”
JB MDL Public Affairs added, “currently, museum operations and events are still at the discretion of NLHS.” The NLHS museum located within Hanger One is closed at the current time, according to Jablonski.
Township resident Bill Schmidt, a former member of both the Lakehurst Historical Society and Navy Lakehurst Historical Society has been bringing his Hindenburg Experience programs to local organizations and branches of the Ocean and Monmouth County library systems in recent years. His latest program was held on the afternoon of May 6 and drew nearly 60 people to the Manchester Township Library’s meeting room.
Schmidt made the presentations providing historic aspects of the airship disaster and key players involved with the zeppelin’s construction, captain and crew.
The speaker, a Navy veteran, asked the crowd to do three things at the start of his program, to shut off their cell phones, to hold questions, if possible, to later in the program and to try “real hard to use your imagination because what I am about to do is to put us all on board the Hindenburg starting on May 3, 1937. We are in Frankfurt, Germany and we are going to buy our tickets.”
Schmidt, who was assisted by Lakehurst Historical Society member Gerald Weber, who handled the PowerPoint presentation portion of the program, divided up the room to German travelers and American travelers.
He noted that the Germans paid $800 for tickets as theirs would have to be round-trip back to Germany while the Americans would be half that price. “That cost would be $6,000 each today.”
Schmidt also noted that Paul von Hindenburg led the Imperial German Army during World War I and later became president of Germany from 1925 until his death. During his presidency, he played a key role in the Nazi seizure of power in January 1933 when, under pressure from his advisers, he appointed Adolf Hitler as chancellor of Germany.
Schmidt noted that here were two factors that contributed heavily to the cause of the disaster, a sharp angle turn being one of them. This was believed to have been done as part of a rush job to land.
He informed his audience that the landing had been postponed due to bad weather so there was a rush to get back on schedule because many of the passengers needed to get back to Germany and then head to the coronation of King George VI in England.
Also noted was the heroism of 14-year-old cabin boy Werner Franz who was the last known surviving crew member of the Hindenburg as of his death in 2014 at the age of 92. On the airship his duties included serving all of the ship’s officers and crew. Later on in life he became an ice and roller skating coach.
Schmidt noted that the famous airship filled with hydrogen, caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at Naval Air Station Lakehurst. The accident caused 35 fatalities (13 passengers and 22 crewmen) from the 97 people on board (36 passengers and 61 crewmen), and an additional fatality (Hagaman) on the ground.
Newsreel coverage was shown to the audience and Schmidt noted that it was most likely static electricity that was the cause of ignition.
Schmidt said, “in one day, the disaster shattered public confidence in airship travel and marked the end of the airship era. Operating airships were taken out of service and one that was being built was cancelled.”
After this article ran in The Manchester Times, Micromedia Publications was informed that a private ceremony took place on the base, but it was closed to the public.
