A customer review:

Hell's Belle: An amazing journey of courage and endurance.  I remember the movie "Stalag 17" from when I was a kid.  At that time, it was just a movie and I could not relate the story to some real event.  Now, as an adult, I have come to appreciate the sacrifices of young men fighting for our freedom.  I have been moved when visiting the Normandy beachhead and being able to talk with veterans who share snippets of their stories.   

It is an engrossing tale of one man's experience both in battle and as prisoner in a camp made famous by Hollywood.  What is so remarkable is being able to follow William Rasmussen from the beginning.  Excellent backgournd is provided about the planes, the training and the war plans as well as the missions.  The description of being shout of the sky, trying to survive and escape on the ground before capture give a real sense of what it must have been like in battle and how amazing it is that such young men had the courage to perform with such bravery and keep their heads and pride under such stress.

The aurhor paints a vivid picture of life within the POW camp.  It is hard to imagine endurng the conditions of weather, poor food, harassment and unsanitary conditions for the years they were captive and stay sane, keep a sense of humor and pride and still have creativity and energy in planning escape attempts or harassing their captors.

Hell's belle is a must read for anyone interested in that amazing time in history.

Hell's Belle is based on the memoirs of William E. Rasmussen, "From a B-17 to Stalag 17-B."  Bill was a sergeant in WWII and became a ball turret operator and gunner on B-17 Flying Fortresses including the Anxious Angle, "079" Buccaneer and the Hell's Belle.  Bill was assigned to the 401st Bombardment Squadron of the 91st Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force that flew out of Bassingbourn, England.  The story is about Bill's personal military training, combat missions, capture and his time spent in the German prison, Stalag 17-B.

After the war Bill became a popular guest speaker at press clubs, library clubs and service organizations.  Everyone enjoyed his narrative immensely as he had a special gift of being able to captivate audiences as they shared his experiences, flying over Nazi Germany and being a prisoner of war. 

Bill dedicated his memoirs to his wife Norma and children, Margaret, William, Randall, Beth Marie and Rebecca, to the crew of the Hell's Belle and to all the men and women of our armed forces that gave their lives so that the rest of us could live as a free people.  Following college, Bill had a career with Firestone Tire and Rubber company, Mapleton Garage, Inc. and the National Bank and Trust Company in Traverse City, Michigan.  For fun he played turmpet in the Riverboat Six, a Dixieland Band.

About the author:  The book was written by his son Randall L. Rasmussen, MD.  To write the book, Dr. Rasmussen used the written memoirs, verbal history recorded at the local library, research material and recollections of his stories.  While keeping as close to his actual accounts as possible, some fictional characters were intoroduced to complete the story. 

A special thank you is extended to Alan Donner, Robert Doud and Susan Ito for their technical assistance in writing the book. 

Dr. Rasmussen email address is elektricmn@comcast.net.