Originally published on May 28, 2023; Republished on May 18, 2024.
by KAREN LAGRANGE COX
This article is dedicated to “Soldier John Smith” and all soldiers who gave their all. “Soldier John Smith” (a fictitious name) was killed in action between March 16 and March 30, 1945, during World War II. He was photographed by an Associated Press (AP) photographer and the photo went viral across United States newspapers in 1945.
During the second half of March 1945, close to the end of World War II (WWII), American troops moved into the German City of Worms, which German military forces were occupying. American troops played a significant role in liberating Worms from the German military forces.
Worms is located in the Rhineland-Palatinate region of Germany along the western bank of the Rhine River. The Nibelungen Bridge, previously known as the Ernest Ludwig Bridge, crosses the Rhine River. Each side of the bridge had a tower known as the Nibelungen Towers. The bridge’s east side and the Nigelungen Tower on the east bank were destroyed during the liberation of Worms.
German snipers were said to have been on the east side of the bank, firing at U.S. soldiers on the western bank of the river. Billy Zimmerman, from Hagerstown, Maryland, and Norman Franklin Booher, from Trinidad, Colorado, were reported to have taken cover on the western tower’s inner side on the Nibelungen Bridge [correction: the two soldiers took cover in what appears to be a guard house or some type of shelter just west of the western bridge tower]. Along the sidewalk of the bridge lay a soldier whose name remains unknown today. This soldier will be referred to as “Soldier John Smith” in this article.
AP photographer James Pringle photographed Zimmerman, Booher, and “Smith” on the Nibelungen Bridge during the latter part of March 1945; the exact date is unknown (Click to view photo). Pringle’s photo went viral across the AP and was in numerous newspapers across the United States. Zimmerman and Booher were identified; however, the name of “Smith” was apparently unknown to Pringle, and therefore, “Smith’s” name was not published with the photograph.
What appears to be mud or blood by “Smith’s” body may indicate his body was dragged from being out in the open to the side of the road by the bridge.
In looking at the photograph, “Smith” appears to be sleeping. He looks to have been a man between the ages of twenty and twenty-five of average height and build. His helmet is on his head; one of his dog tags is exposed; however, the inscription with his information cannot be seen, even upon the enlargement of the photo. When a U.S. Soldier is killed, the process is to remove one of the two dog tags of a fallen soldier so that one dog tag remains with the body while the other dog tag is used for burial service record keeping.
Through the years since WWII, the City of Worms sought to honor soldiers, or families of the soldiers, who helped liberate the city from German forces during WWII. The city did this honor every five years. In 2020, Carlo Riva, then a City Council Member of Worms, sought to find “Smith’s” true identity to contact his family to be part of the city’s honor ceremony in March 2020. The ceremony did not happen that year due to the Covid-19 pandemic; however, it did not stop Riva from continuing to find the identity of “Smith”.
Riva emailed the newspaper in Hagerstown with a plea for information on Zimmerman to help him find “Smith”. His efforts were, in part, fruitful; he spoke with Zimmerman’s daughter, Caroline Nutter, and her husband, Tim. Riva learned that Zimmerman had died in 1985 and rarely spoke to his family about his time as a soldier during WWII. Rutter told Riva that his father-in-law had once told him that he, Booher, and the slain soldier were buddies, that “Smith” was first in the Air Force, then entered the Army, and they were crossing the bridge when a German sniper’s bullet struck “Smith”.
It is believed “Smith” was part of the 838th Anti-Aircraft Artillery (AAA) Automatic Weapons (AW) Battalion, the same battalion as Zimmerman and Booher.
Booher died by suicide at the age of fifty-one in 1970 in Roswell, New Mexico. Booher seemed successful in his life and was also a council member in Roswell.
In trying to find “Smith”, Riva, who worked for the Directorate IMCOM Europe and before that for the 293rd BSB, Directorate of Engineering and Housing in the Resource Management Office as a Budget Analyst, enlisted the assistance of some Americans. One was William Borneman of Colorado, who had been stationed in Worms and met his wife there. Another is Karen Lagrange Cox of Broussard, Louisiana, who once lived in Worms as an Army dependent. The three met through a Facebook military group of Worms. Others also helped to try to find the identity of “Smith”.
Riva emailed the names of soldiers who were killed in Worms during the last half of March 1945 to both Borneman and Cox. The names of these American soldiers were searched through Ancestry.com, Newspapers.com, and various military databases. If a photo was available, it was compared to the photo of “Smith” lying on the sidewalk of the Nibelungern Bridge. Places with military records were contacted; libraries were contacted in hopes of getting photos and/or information on some of the soldiers listed at the end of this article, and people on genealogy websites were contacted if one of the soldiers listed below was in their family tree. Nothing was fruitful in finding “Smith’s” identity.
There are many graves of the unknown; however, the names of many of those killed during WWII were known, although their burial location may be unknown. Soldiers were buried in the United States Military Cemeteries in Europe. The Luxembourg American Cemetery, Hamm, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, has over five-thousand seventy war dead and three-hundred seventy-one names on the Walls of the Missing. The Lorraine American Cemetery, Saint-Avold, France, has ten-thousand four-hundred eighty-one war dead buried there and four-hundred forty-four listed as missing in action. “Smith’s” burial location was not discovered due to not knowing his identity.
“Smith’s” family was more than likely notified of his death; however, the mystery of “Smith’s” identity remains to those who seek to know the identity of the deceased soldier lying on the Nibelungen Bridge in Worms, Germany, in March 1945. “Smith” is not forgotten by those who continually seek his identity to pay respect to him for sacrificing his life for others.
With all known leads covered, at least by Riva, Borneman, and Cox, this endeavor is “pending inactive”. To quote Borneman, “Who knows, someone somewhere might come up with something. Stranger things have happened.”
The following AP photo of Zimmerman, Booher, and “Smith” was distributed to multiple United States newspapers in the latter part of March 1945 / early part of April 1945.
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In the search for “Smith’s” identity, the researchers eliminated the following names of soldiers who served in or near Worms in the latter part of March 1945 as potential matches for “Smith.” The names of those who were to be honored in Worms in March 2020 are indicated in bold.
- Berdulias, John F;
Killed in Action, March 31, 1945. - Booher, Norman, PFC;
of Branson, CO;
Born March 12, 1919;
838th Anti Aircraft Artillery, B Battalion;
Died in 1970 in Roswell, NM. - Boma, James Vernon;
Piper City, IL;
Killed in Action on March 26, 1945. - Brown, Robert L;
Killed in Action on March 16, 1945. - Cavanaugh, Thomas, 2nd LT
of Houston, TX;
Killed in Action in Worms on March 26, 1945. - Ebel, John C., 1st LT;
of St. Louis, MO;
Born December 9, 1924;
103rd Infantry Division, 409th Company;
Killed in Action in Worms on March 20, 1945;
Buried in Lorraine American Cemetery, Saint-Avold, France. - Kenny, James P., 1st LT;
of Queens, NY;
Born in 1918;
9th Air Force, 668th Bomb Squad, 416 Bomb Group;
Buried in Lorraine American Cemetery, Saint-Avold, France. - Kepner, Robert Harold, PFC;
of Juniata County, NJ;
born in 1924;
Killed in Action in Worms in 1944;
Buried in Old Church Hill Cemetery, Port Royal, PA - Langton, Merrill F;
of St. Cloud, MN;
Died on March 26, 1945. - Lindsey, Allen Roy;
of Urber City, UT;
Killed in Action on March 25, 1945. - Gillespie, Leslie, PFC;
of Effinton, IL;
Born in 1921;
180th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division;
Killed in Action between Worms and Hamm on March 28, 1945;
Buried in Lorraine American Cemetery, Saint-Avold, France. - Griffin, Howard;
of St. Louis, IL;
Died in a Vehicle Accident near Worms on March 26, 1945. - Kepner, Robert Harold, PFC;
of Juniata County, NJ;
333rd Infantry Battalion 1 Co, 84th Division;
Killed in Action in Worms;
Buried Old Church Hill Cemetery, Port Royal, PA. - Landraff, Lawrence;
of Pittsburgh, PA;
Killed in Action on March 21, 1945. - Parker, Stephen J;
Killed in Action on March 24, 1945. - Prusaky, Joseph;
85th Engineers Heavy Ponton Battalion;
Found on the beach with head wounds on March 28, 1945. - Sachs, Clyde H., PFC;
of Nuremberg, PA;
Born August 7, 1924;
180th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division;
Killed in Action between Worms and Hamm on March 26, 1945;
Buried in Lorraine American Cemetery, Saint-Avold, France. - Starks, Allen F;
Killed in Action on March 17, 1945. - Steffen, William;
Killed in Action on March 19, 1945. - Stepro, Joh Claude Jr., T5 Sgt;
of New Albany, IN;
11th Armored Division, 63rd ArmoredInfantry Division, A Company;
Killed in Action in Worms, March 29, 1945;
Buried in Luxembourg American Cemetery, Hamm, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. - Stutchbury, Bruce;
Killed in Action on March 18, 1945. - Tollesfson, Arthur G, T4 SGT;
of Fosston, MN;
Born 1916;
3rd Infantry, 7th Infantry Regiment, B Company;
Killed in Action between Worms and Hamm on March 25, 1945. - Tucker, James M;
Killed in Action, March 29, 1945. - Vick, Leon Raymond, PFC;
of Rocky Mount, NC;
Born September 2, 1925;
355th Infantry Co, 89th Infantry Division;
Killed in Action on March 26, 1945;
Buried in Nash County, NC. - Smith, Ralph C., T4 SGT;
of Big Horn County, WY;
Born in 1916;
179th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division;
Killed in Action in Worms on March 26, 1945;
Buried in Lorraine American Cemetery, Saint-Avold, France. - Wallace, Charles;
Killed in Action on March 24, 1945. - Walter, Thomas;
Killed in Action on March 27, 1945. - Wegman, Robert F;
Killed in Action on March 19, 1945. - Wheat, William R;
Missing in Action. - Wile, Ralph W.;
Killed in Action on March 23, 1945. - Willgus, George M., PFC;
of Hudson, NJ;
Born September 15, 1918;
180th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division;
Killed in Action between Worms and Hamm on March 26, 1945;
Buried in Luxembourg American Cemetery, Hamm, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. - Wilson, Webster Wilson Jr., SSG;
of New Castile, NJ:
Born in 1915;
180th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division;
Drowned between Worms and Hamm on March 26, 1945;
Buried in Luxembourg American Cemetery, Hamm, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. - Zimmerman, Billy Leon, PFC;
of Hagerstown, MD;
838th Anti Aircraft Artillery, B Battalion;
Died in 1985 in Hagerstown, MD.
