Eighty years ago to the day last Thursday (February 16), a young Army Air Corps staff sergeant from Russell named Floyd H. Zimmer climbed aboard the B-24D Liberator to which he was assigned and took up his position as left waist gunner.
Sgt. Zimmer's aircraft, nicknamed "Snafu," had been dispatched with others like it from Royal Air Force Shipdham to bomb the U-Boat pens at St. Nazaire, France. Each carried a crew of 10. Lt. Fred M. Billings was piloting Snafu as it followed in formation the English coastline southeast from Shipdham.
Shortly after moving away from the coastline off Selsey Bill, Sussex, Snafu was hit by anti-aircraft flak, knocking it out of control. It collided with another B-24D in the formation, Texan II. Both caught fire, fell into the English Channel and exploded.
Twenty lives were lost; remains never recovered. Sgt. Zimmer was 23.
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The telegram informing Sgt Zimmer's widowed mother, Maude, that her only son was missing in action reached her in Russell on Monday afternoon, Feb. 22, and was reported upon briefly in The Union-Tribune of Thursday, Feb. 25:
"Word was received Monday afternoon by his mother, Mrs. Maude Zimmer, that Sergeant Floyd Zimmer, U.S. Air Corps, was reported missing in action. We here at home who knew him so well are not giving up hope that he will be saved."
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Floyd had been born at Russell on Nov. 16, 1919, to Percy C. and Maude L. Zimmer, and was a 1937 graduate of Russell High school. He had one sister, Mildred.
During October, 1937, Floyd enrolled at the First National Television School in Kansas City, graduating in 1938. He then returned to Russell to operate a radio repair and sales shop for a few months, then went to work for the Alline Electric Co. in Ottumwa.
He enlisted in the Army Air Corps during August of 1941 and received extensive radio-related training before being assigned to a bomber crew and deployed to England in June of 1942. Aboard the Snafu, he was chief radio mechanic, assistant radio operator and waist gunner.
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A year to the day after Sgt. Zimmer had been killed, an official letter was dated and mailed to his mother which read in part as follows:
"Dear Mrs. Zimmer. It is my distressing duty to inform you that all possible efforts have failed to locate your son, Staff Sergeant Floyd H. Zimmer, 17.029.368, Air Corps, who was officially reported missing in action on 16 February 1943 while on an operational flight in the European Area. The plane was last seen one mile south of Selsey Bill, England.
Pursuant to the provisions of Public Law 490, 77th Congress, as all available records, reports and circumstances relating to the disappearance of your son have been carefully reviewed and considered, an official finding of death has been made."
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Memorial services were held at the Methodist church in Russell on Sunday afternoon, March 12, 1944, with the Rev. David W. Ash officiating and Rev. W. H. Thompson assisting. Major W. L. Wade, stationed with the Army Air Corps at Drake University in Des Moines, presented the Purple Heart and Air Corps Medals to his mother.
Sgt. Zimmer's name and dates were inscribed on the substantial granite stone that marks the family lot in the Russell Cemetery at some point thereafter. In England, his name is one of 5,127 inscribed on Walls of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery.
But for the most part, this young man and his sacrifice have been forgotten.
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