New Storie S told oN 86th A NNiver SAry o f hi Nde Nburg

By Bob Vosseller MANCHESTER

– It was a day for celebration, not only for Joseph C. Longo, but for his entire family as well. There was much to enjoy as Longo celebrated his 105th birthday. He was reunited with his son Larry who lives out of state, brother Peter and many other family members and received a special motor- cycle parade by members of the American Legion Riders and a proclamation from Manchester Township. Longo is one of 12 children born of Italian immigrants who arrived at Ellis Island in 1911. He grew up in Orange, New Jersey and after getting married in 1947, he and his wife Mary moved to West (Birthday - See Page 4)

First Responders Praised For Wildfire Response

By Bob Vosseller MANCHESTER –

Firefighters, EMS members and police lined up in front of the dais as a proclamation was read by Mayor Robert Arace thanking them for their service during the April 11-13

By Bob Vosseller LAKEHURST

– It’s been 86 years since that fateful day, and people are still telling stories of the Hindenburg disaster that took place on May 6, 1937.

Local WWII Hero Honored In Biography

By Mark Bator

recent article that appeared in The Manchester Times from research that NLHS member Jim Larsen of Manchester shared. Larsen was also present at the evening’s ceremony.

“My grandfather was on the tail section and he was 52, he ran (from the falling burning airship) and he tripped on the track where they could turn it and naturally it came down on him causing injury and mostly burns,” Hurley said.

TOMS RIVER –

The extraordinary life and times of an under-appreciated World War II hero was the subject of a question-and-answer session with author Steven M. Gillon at the George P. Vanderveer American Legion

Navy Lakehurst Historical Society (NLHS) and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (JBMDL) hosted a memorial event that took place outside Hangar One which used to house the famous airship. Among those invited were Margherita Thielke, who witnessed the disaster as a child, and Lakehurst resident Allen Hurley, the grandson of Allen Hagaman who was the one groundcrew worker who had perished. Hurley told said that he learned a lot from a

Thielke said “I’m 97 now. I lived in Haledon, New Jersey. My half-brother Mike and my father went to see the Hindenburg land. My brother was 14 and I was 11. We went in a 1934 Chevrolet Coupe with a rumble seat. It (Stories - See Page 5)

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Birthday:

Continued From Page 1

Orange where they raised three children. After retiring from 33 years of service in the US Postal Service, Joe and his bride moved to Cedar Glen Lakes retirement community in Whiting.

After losing his beloved wife of 71 years in 2014, he moved to AristaCare in 2019 where he resides today and where his patriotic themed party was held with red, white and blue napkins and a birthday cake.

“He is a member of the Greatest Generation and a (Private First Class) of the US Army and proud to have served under General George Patton while stationed in France,” said his son Larry Longo, who planned the gathering.

To commemorate his 105th birthday, an Honor Guard of 18 American Legion Riders, motorcyclists who are Legion members from Toms River Post 129 and Brick Post 348, presented the colors and an American flag. Brick Post Road Captain Greg Wagner said, “it was our honor to be here today.”

The Longo family includes his 100-yearold brother Peter who along with his brother and family members watched the Riders circle around outside the front of the building before the festivities moved indoors.

Longo was injured during the war. “He was very young and healthy and it was a superficial wound. He said he marched with General Patton,” his daughter Linda Linder said.

“He has told the story differently over the years. At first it was that he waved to him as he passed through. Then it was that he ran after him to shake his hand. The next thing we hear it will be that he and the General planned the Normandy Beach invasion,” his son joked.

“My father enlisted and he was supposed to come home in February of ‘41 and then in December, Pearl Harbor happened and so he was stuck for another four years. His short-term memory isn’t good but his longterm memory is,” Linder said.

She noted that her dad “was an avid bowler, golfer and bocce player. He was a mailman for 33 years and loved the outdoors. No desk job for him. He will tell you the reason he has been living this long is because he was a letter carrier.”

Linder added that along with her and Larry, they had an older brother Vincent who died 11 years ago.

Her daughter Shannon presented her grandfather with his dog tags from his military service.

“There is a lot of people here,” Joe Longo said as he looked out to those assembled from his family, AristaCare staff and others present.

“They are here for you and to honor you and Pete for your service in World War II,” Larry Longo replied. “I want to thank my during his service in World War II during a party to celebrate his 105th birthday. dad and my Uncle Pete for their service and I want to thank them for what they taught us.”

Larry Longo added, “their children and grandchildren were taught a work ethic. They took care of the family. My dad worked for the Post Office and he put my sister and I through college. He told me many times, my goal in life is to give you a better life than I had and he did. God bless you both, God bless everyone here and most of all, God bless America!”

Stories

: Continued From Page 1 took us three hours to get here because there were no highways.”

“The Hindenburg was late and we waited until quarter after 7. We saw it coming and the Hindenburg was really high. It came in to land but all of a sudden, I saw a flash. I thought it was fireworks,” she added. She recalled, “everyone started to scream and it got so hot and we ran for our lives and they just ran right over me. I could find my father and brother so I just stood where we were standing and watched the wounded people being put on the Navy truck. One man was inside and all his skin was hanging from his face.”

Dr. Horst Schirmer was a special guest. His 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.” He added that there 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.

The landing was 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, he said. The irony of the King Charles III coronation held earlier in the day of the ceremony was also noted.

The other factor was “a leak (of hydrogen), they took action and sent six members of the crew into the bow but then came the electricity which caused the first explosion and led to the second explosion.”

Once again, NLHS President Carl Jablonski served as master of ceremonies for the event that included welcome remarks from JBMDL Deputy Commander U.S. Navy Captain Frank T. Ingargiola and guest speakers Schirmer, NLHS Vice President Jennifer Suwak, and County Commissioner Virginia Haines. Members of the Lakehurst Historical Society including their new president Bernadette Dugan and former president George Oglesby were among those in the audience.

Jablonski read the names of those passengers, crew and grounds worker who died in the Hindenburg tragedy and wreaths were presented for the U.S. Army, U.S. Marines, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S.A.F. Space Force and Prisoner of War/Missing In Action.

Captain Ingargiola noted the lives lost and that the audience was seated at the exact location of “a part of American history. Today we honor those lost and their families. We commemorate the Hindenburg disaster on the same date, time and place where it occurred. This disaster effectively brought the German transatlantic flights to an end.”

“We are here to honor those who rushed toward the flames to save lives, many of which were sailors stationed here at the time. This disaster claimed 36 lives which included 13 passengers, 22 crew members and one worker on the ground,” Captain Ingargiola said. “There were 62 survivors, many of whom jumped from the flames and burning wreckage and ran as fast as they could. They were the lucky ones.”

Suwak’s remarks noted a future NLHS

Someone Special Dance

MANCHESTER – Manchester Township High School Class of 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026 and the Manchester Township Education Association present the Someone Special Dance on June 4 from 1 to 4 p.m. at Manchester Township

High School Cafeteria, 101 Hawks Way, Manchester.

Dear Pre-K through fifth grade students and your “Someone Special:” You are cordially invited to attend the 2nd annual “Someone Special Dance.” Bring your “Someone Special” (mom, dad, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, grandmom, grandpop, etc.) to enjoy a fun-filled afternoon! project that will help bring history alive.

The cost is $20 for each “couple” and $5 for each additional child or guest.

“One of the big initiatives we have right now is to continue beta testing our AR augmented reality and fly virtual replicas of some of our lighter than air and other aircraft so we can preserve that history, explore it and teach it with modern technology.”

“Imagine seeing a nearly exact replica of the Hindenburg flying above us in the airfield through an Ipad on a museum app. We are looking for support with the project. It is incredible technology,” she added.

Prior to the ceremony, Ocean County Historical Society (OCHS) member Bill Shannon handed Jablonski a piece of material from an airship and asked him if he thought it might be from the Hindenburg.

“This was what was on the Navy airships, the K-ships that went out for U-Boat patrol,” Jablonski said, quickly identifying the item.

Shannon told The Manchester Times, “We got it as a donation and we want to put it out on display but we want something with it to identify it. We have a lot of stuff for the Hindenburg there already (at the OCHS museum in Toms River) plateware, pictures of some of the people, survivors and some that didn’t make it.”

The cost includes DJ, dancing and lunch. Additional refreshments, activities, photos and more will be available at the dance for a nominal fee.

To purchase tickets, visit mthssga. booktix.com.

Hero:

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Post 129. Gillon, a history professor at the University of Oklahoma, entertained those in attendance and provided insight regarding his latest book, “Len Lomell: D-Day Hero.”

In addition to Lomell’s wife, Renee, many of those in attendance had known Lomell personally. So, in addition to the information imparted by the author, numerous friends and acquaintances of the local hero took the opportunity to share their recollections at the well-attended event. Lomell had been a member of American Legion Post 129 and had run his law practice in Toms River, as well. Lomell was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1942, and had become an Army Ranger. As part of his involvement in WWII, Lomell’s squad was tasked with taking the German stronghold at Point du Hoc as part of the D-Day invasion. He is credited with being the one soldier who made D-Day a victory. Lomell’s exploits, many of which had not previously been known to the author, are contained in the book.

As Gillon explained to the audience, he had met Lomell while doing a television show on the History Channel.

“I was just mesmerized by his story and incredibly impressed by him,” Gillon said of Lomell. “I know that most of his friends and people who knew him called him ‘Bud.’ To me, he was Mister Lomell. I was also struck by how modest he was, how down to Earth he was. He was just like a regular guy. He never wanted to be the center of attention.”

The idea for the book was hatched during the COVID-19 pandemic, and during the question-and-answer session, the author revealed how the book truly came to fruition.

Just as he had done with the previous 11 books he has written, Gillon did hours of fact-checking and interviews in preparation for the task.

“What happened is,” Gillon explained to his audience, “in the very beginning, I did a lot of background research before I even reached out to the family. I wanted to make sure the story held together.”

Gillon explained that historical materials about Lomell were often hard to come by, including at the Library of Congress.

“In this case there were very few of those types of documents,” Gillon said. “And what you do as an author, is you gather up as much information as you can.”

But the most noteworthy assistance came from the Lomell family themselves when the late war hero’s wife had a small gathering, which included Gillon, at her home.

“And I think it was that time, after that meeting,” Gillon related, “Renee asked me to stay behind. She went into the back room where she stored lots of [Lomell’s] memorabilia. She brought out a big black folder, and she explained to me what it was.”

Inside the folder was a 186-page letter that Lomell had written to his grandchildren in 1980 that documented his life.

“As a historian, it doesn’t get any better,” explained Gillon. “He essentially did a lot of the work for me.”

The biography recounts the heroic actions of Lomell, whose exploits, while impressive, have not been woven into the fabric of the American zeitgeist in the same fashion as such iconic figures as General George S. Patton, or Audie Murphy. From his inauspicious beginnings as a World War II draftee, the selfless bravery and resourcefulness of Lomell are accurately recounted by Gillon, who vividly painted the scene for those in attendance at the lecture.

“I just think it’s great that we have someone who’s written a nationally published book,” said Toms River Mayor Maurice B. Hill, who was also in attendance at the event. “And it’s available now to people, to read about his history, and how important [Lomell] was in changing the outcome of World War Two.”

Many audience members had known Lomell, either through his membership at the American Legion Hall, through his law practice, or simply as an involved community member, and took turns sharing their stories with the author. While he did not do so publicly during the event, Hill also knew Lomell personally, as well.

“I actually met him downtown,” Hill explained, “at a number of events, Memorial Day events. He was our Grand Marshall, and he was always a very humble guy. I used to see him at the Ocean County Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day celebrations they had.

The mayor and the town council of Toms River are even working to have a new VA outpatient clinic being built off Hooper Avenue named in Lomell’s honor, with resolutions already in place.

“[Lomell was] one of the pillars of the town,” said Hill. “He’s done a lot for the community.”

Preliminary indications are that the measure will pass and that Lomell’s name will be adopted for the clinic.