Rod Strohl

Roderick George Rod Strohl June 24 1922 December 2 2019 was an American Army noncommissioned officer and World War II veteran He served as a Staff Sergeant with Easy Company 2nd Battalion 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment 101st Airborne Division and was one of the original members of the company trained at Camp Toccoa Georgia Born in Fogelsville Pennsylvania Strohl grew up in a family involved in the automobile business He enlisted in the US Army in 1942 and volunteered for the airborne forces alongside his friends Forrest Guth and Carl Fenstermaker The three became part of the original group of Toccoa men who formed Easy Company Strohl parachuted into Normandy on DDay June 6 1944 and fought with Easy Company during the Battle of Normandy including the fighting around Carentan He was wounded during the Battle of Bloody Gulch and subsequently returned to England to recover He later rejoined Easy Company and made another combat jump during Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands During the fighting on the Island in October 1944 he was wounded again while participating in a patrol He subsequently fought with Easy Company during the Battle of the Bulge and the assault on Foy remaining with the company through the end of the European campaign Strohl carried a camera during the war sharing it with fellow soldiers including Forrest Guth and Walter Gordon His wartime experiences and photographs later contributed to accounts of Easy Companys service After the war Strohl returned to Pennsylvania and worked in the family automobile business Stanley A Strohl Chevrolet in Fogelsville alongside his father and later his brother Strohls experiences were featured in Stephen E Ambroses 1992 book Band of Brothers He appeared briefly as himself in the opening episode of the 2001 HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and was interviewed for the companion documentary We Stand Alone Together The Men of Easy Company Strohl died on December 2 2019 in Orefield Pennsylvania at the age of 97