AP Photographer Eddie Worth Dies
Wednesday November 13, 2002 8:30 PM
LONDON (AP) – Eddie Worth, a news photographer who covered the battles for western Europe after D-Day and went on to cover the war trials of Nazi leaders, has died at the age of 93.
Worth, who worked for The Associated Press for most of his career, was a legend in the news industry because of his remarkable dedication, energy and knack for getting to the most difficult assignments.
“He was one of the great photographers. A legend,” said Horst Faas, AP’s senior photo editor based in London.
Relatives said Worth died Sunday. The cause of death was not announced.
Worth worked for AP as a dispatch rider in 1934, also working as a free-lance photographer. His first big success as a photographer came when he hired a plane to obtain pictures of a mine disaster in northern England.
As an AP photographer, Worth covered the events leading up to World War II and got to know some of the top Nazi leaders, including Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop.
One of his most famous images is of the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral looming through the smoke and fire after a German bombing raid on June 7, 1941.
Worth was a combat photographer during the war, landing with Canadian troops in Normandy during the D-Day invasion. He accompanied Allied troops for the rest of the war, covering the battles for France and northern Germany.
The Nazi mayor of Hamburg surrendered to Worth, mistaking him for a British officer, at the end of the war, colleagues said.
In another celebrated incident, Worth was covering the surrender of German forces to Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery in May 1945 when he noticed the date on the surrender document was wrong. He pointed out the mistake to the British commander.
Worth was sent to cover the trial of Nazi leaders in Nuremberg after the war. Editors told him he was going for a week, but he ended up staying for a year.
After the war, Worth continued to cover trouble spots, including the unrest in Cyprus in the 1950s.
“He couldn’t walk, he’d run everywhere. He was in perpetual motion,” recalled Gerry Warhurst, a retired AP photo editor who worked with Worth.
A funeral service was planned for Monday.