To clean the dress shoes: a very problem on a dirt patch used an airfield which the rains change into a sea of mud. A serviceman of USAAF’s 759th Bombardment Squadron trying to keep clean in mud of Giulia Airfield, Foggia Airfield Complex, Italy, 1944. Victor Sierra

Mud and clean shoes

Giulia Airfield, Italy, 1944. The USAAF’s 759 Bomb Squadron Officer`s tent row. Victor Sierra

Tent Boulevard

From “Thunder from the South - The 99th Bomb Group in World War II” written by 99th Bombardment Group Association: “Living conditions at Tortorella were very harsh. The summers were hot and dusty, the winters cold and wet. Buildings were few, and airplane maintenance crews worked out in the open. The men lived in tents using homemade gasoline stoves for heat. The men constantly had to struggle through mud and water, snow and ice, or choking dust, depending on the season”. The planes of USAAF’s 99th Bomb Group, 5th Bomb Wing, 15th Air Force, Boeing B-17 “Flying Fortress”, arrived in Italy from North Africa at Tortorella Airfield, Foggia Airfield Complex, in December of 1943. Victor Sierra