On May 10, 1937, in Lakehurst, NJ, thirty-five persons died and scores of others were injured as the Hindenberg dirigible exploded three hundred feet over the landing field at the end of her first voyage of the season from Europe. A terrific burst of flame engulfed the stern of the ship and spread with the rapidity of lightning to the bow. The inferno of blazing hydrogen gas cremated all living beings in its path, as the twisted skeleton of the balloon settled quickly to the ground. Rescue crews braved death to save sixty-three persons, some of them horribly burned.