Van Orden was stationed as captain and Marine detachment commander at the Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst , when airship '' LZ 129 Hindenburg '' crashed on May 6 , 1937 . He commanded his Marines during the salvage operation and received a letter of commendation by the commandant , Thomas Holcomb , " for exercising " good judgment and initiative in immediately leading his Marine Detachment to the scene of the disastrous destruction by fire of the " Hindenburg " as it nosed to its mooring mast . " He was transferred to the Division of Plans and Policies at Headquarters Marine Corps in Washington , D.C. , in 1939 and served as an Umpire during the Fleet Landing Exercise in Culebra , Puerto Rico . Late in that year , Van Orden was ordered for instruction to Ordnance Field Service School at Raritan Arsenal in Metuchen , New Jersey
crashed
Hindenburg disaster
George O. Van Orden