The only music to be heard.

[**The following is in relation to the liberated town of Cerignola, Italy, not long after the Americans moved in during World War II.**] >An AAF medical officer wrote a description: “The town was a reservoir of malaria, venereal disease and dysentery with flies and mosquitoes to insure spread. The streets were filled with pot-bellied bambinos openly defecating in emulation of their elders because there was no sewer system or toilets. They ate food when they could get it on the black market obtained from fly-infested fruit stands and vermin-filled butcher shops where rotten meat was the rule. There were no medicines, the death rate among children was appalling, the splenic index was 40 per cent and malaria was a children’s disease – all the adults had it long since. Avitaminosis, tuberculosis, and frank starvation were everywhere. The only music to be heard was the sound of a passing funeral, and that band had a full-time job.” ________________________ **Source:** Ambrose, Stephen E. “Cerignola, Italy.” *The Wild Blue: The Crews of the B-24*. Simon & Schuster, 2002. 130. Print. **Original Source Listed:** Asch et al., *Flight of the Vulgar Vultures*, 31.