I first met Captain Bella Danos when our contingent of the 130th Ordnance Battalion moved into Zweckel, Germany over Easter weekend, 1945. Zweckel now is a borough of the city of Gladbeck, but in 1945 it was a coal-mining community - just a few miles Southeast of Kirchellen, which had been captured on Thursday.

Lt. Otto Rottmiller was interrogating a pretty German nurse in a small building across the square from where we were billeted. The main German force that defended Zweckel had been pushed a mile or so away, but left behind a mortar crew that dropped a round into this square every now and then.

I had to deliver a few messages to Lt. Rottmiller, but was able to dash across the square between rounds. I don't recall being overly excited, but Capt. Danos got more agitated each time a mortar shell exploded. A couple of our young Lieutenants were amused by this and finally grabbed him from each side and forced him to run across he square. Weird sense of humor, I thought.

At the time, I thought the Captain's name was Bella Donna and, because he spoke with a heavy foreign accent I thought he might have been a refugee from one of the European countries that Hitler's military machine had overrun. He was head of our Medical Detachment and we called him "Doc". I wondered what his real name was. Now, 70 years later (February of 2015), I have a copy of our roster from "Chip" Drewery, son of our Battalion Commanding Officer, and know that Doc's name really was Bella Danos. I still don't know if he was a refugee, but his home address was on 43rd Street, Woodside, Long Isand, NY. Thanks, Chip

Vern Miller