Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, NJ -- Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst leaders, Navy Lakehurst Historical Society members and members of the community attended the 2018 Hindenburg Memorial Ceremony here May 9.
This year’s ceremony marked the 81st anniversary of the Hindenburg airship crash on May 6, 1937, at the former Naval Air Station Lakehurst.
“It is important to remember our aviation history,” said Col. Neil Richardson, Joint Base MDL and Air Base Wing commander. “We now stand in a place where many of us grew up learning about in our history books.”
Service members from each branch laid wreaths to honor both Army and Navy airship accidents.
“In 1921, this base was the center of excellence for lighter-than-air-balloons,” said U.S. Navy Capt. Muhammad Khan, Naval Support Activity Commander and Joint Base MDL deputy commander. “Also, the hangar behind us, Hangar 1, was completed and is now on the historical registry.”
Although a solemn event, those in attendance still celebrated the brave actions by individuals more than 80 years ago.
“Commander of the Hindenburg, Captain Max Pruss, emerged from the wreckage burnt but alive,” Richardson said. “His actions demonstrated that even in the face of danger, we find people that are that are willing to put their own lives on the line to save others.”
The names of those who were lost were announced in conjunction with the ringing of a bell, to close the ceremony.
“Hangar 1 remains overlooking this place as it stood then and still stands today,” said Dana Lancellotti, Director of the Ocean County Business Development and Tourism. “It is filled with the spirit and memories of the glorious age of airships, and we can only imagine what may have been and what may be in the future.”