USA TODAY International Edition
Hindenburg disaster nears 80 years
LAKEHURST Preparations are underway to mark the upcoming 80th anniversary of the Hindenburg disaster, which is expected to bring dignitaries, historians and media from around the globe to Ocean County.
They will commemorate a human tragedy that has long captivated the public’s imagination.
Representatives of the Navy Lakehurst Historical Society, which organizes the memorial ceremony each year to honor the 36 lives lost in the crash of the German airship on May 6, 1937, have been trying to keep up with the interview and speaking engagement requests arriving into its office, museum and gift shop inside historic Hangar One at Joint Base McGuire- Dix- Lakehurst.
“The Discovery Channel, the History Channel; we’ve had calls from media here, and from in Germany and France,” said Carl Jablonski, 75, of Beachwood, the longtime president of the society.
Ocean County Freeholder John C. Bartlett Jr. recently said there is no doubt that the Hindenburg disaster was the single biggest historical event in the county’s 167- year history, making the Lakehurst naval base and its flight operations there known throughout the world. In 1987, for the 50th anniversary, the Board of Freeholders built a permanent memorial at the crash site that shows the outline of where the Hindenburg’s control car fell in the inferno.
To commemorate the 80th anniversary, a dinner and exhibit of Hindenburg artifacts are planned for the night of May 5 at the Clarion Hotel and Conference Center in Toms River for invited guests and dignitaries, with a select number of tickets available to the gener- al public for $ 50 per plate.
The next day, the annual remembrance ceremony is scheduled to take place at the crash site memorial on the Joint Base. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the base has rarely allowed unfettered access to the general public. Participation in the past has almost always been limited to invitation only. However, because of the milestone anniversary, the society has asked the Joint Base command to consider making an exception as it did for the 75th anniversary in 2012, Jablonski said.
“We’re working on that,” he said with a grin.