It must have been meaningful for the US troops to find some entertainment during World War 2. We know about the USO, who hired big stars to sing or act for the troops, but there were other ways.
The American Red Cross rodeo and “Wild West” show staged a rodeo in Foggia Stadium in Southern Italy on July 4, 5 and 6, 1944.
The photograph above is of Private Dorothy E. Wood of Phoenix, Arizona, a member of a WAC detachment stationed in Italy, who was the queen of the American Red Cross rodeo.
Private Leonardo Rodriguez of Cartaro, Arizona, ropes a calf during the American Red Cross rodeo.
Sergeant Steve Stephans (left) of Klamath Falls, Oregon, edges out Corporal Harry Hanson of Chicago, Illinois, to win the Roman chariot race.
Corporal Arthur S. Wilkinson of San Saba, Texas, comes out of the chute on the back of a “bronc.
All contestants were soldiers of the Allied Fifth Army in Italy or Allied flyers based at airdromes in Italy.
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History of Sorts 
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