The last survivor of the Hindenburg disaster has died, family says - hindenburg-disaster-file.jpg

https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/16/us/hi...rnd/index.html

(CNN) — The last survivor of the Hindenburg airship disaster, Werner Gustav
Doehner, has died, according to his family.

Doehner, 90, passed away at a hospital in Laconia, New Hampshire, on November 8,
his son, Bernie Doehner, told CNN.

Werner Doehner was 8 years old on May 6, 1937, when the infamous airship went up
in flames and crashed in Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 36 people. Doehner's
sister and father were among them. Sixty-two people survived.

"It basically robbed him of his father and sister, and left him with lasting
scars," Bernie Doehner said, adding that his father generally did not talk about
the incident. "He had one all down his leg and he had nine skin graft operations
and one of his ears was badly damaged," he said.

"He was so badly burned, he was blind for many months," he said.

In a 2017 interview with the Associated Press, the elder Doehner recounted what
happened when the airship, the pride of Nazi Germany, arrived from Germany and
hovered above the New Jersey airfield. Hydrogen fueled an inferno.

"We were close to a window, and my mother took my brother and threw him out. She
grabbed me and fell back and then threw me out," he said. "She tried to get my
sister, but she was too heavy, and my mother decided to get out by the time the
zeppelin was nearly on the ground."

His mother and older brother survived.

During the first half of the 20th century, airships -- some measuring longer
than two football fields -- traversed the world's oceans. The Hindenburg had
sleeping berths for 72 passengers, dining areas, a lounge, a bar and a
promenade.

Despite the fact that modern airships use non-flammable helium to achieve
flight, the Hindenburg tragedy made any return to the widespread use of airships
for travel unlikely, experts say. That's largely blamed on those famous black
and white newsreel images of the airship crashing and burning in New Jersey on
that tragic day in 1937.

Werner Doehner experienced lasting trauma from the disaster, his son said. For
example, he didn't like pancakes because they were served at the hospital where
he was taken to receive treatment, Bernie said.

According to his obituary, Doehner was born in Darmstadt, Germany, but spent his
childhood in Mexico City. He married his wife, Elin, in July 1967.

In 1984, the family moved to the United States, where Doehner worked for General
Electric as an electrical engineer, the obituary said. He eventually retired in
1999 from the New England Electric System.

Bernie said he wants his father to be remembered as a "good family man who
believed in, definitely, education of his kids and a strong work ethic."



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