Leo V. Strausbaugh was a captain in charge of B Company of the 6th Ranger Battalion [Annotator's Note: Company B, 6th Ranger Battalion] during World War 2. He was born in Hillsboro, Illinois in 1920. The middle-born of three children, his early education concluded with his graduation from high school, after which he went to work for a few years. On 7 December 1941, Strausbaugh heard a radio announcement that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He went to join the armed services right away and opted to volunteer for the duration of the war, rather than for a four-year tour of duty. He developed pneumonia, and was very ill for a time, delaying his induction until 24 March 1942. He was sworn in at Scott Field, Illinois, and went to Fort Sill, Oklahoma for basic training at a field artillery training center. He liked basic training because he got away from home for the first time, and he liked the people. After basic training he was offered an opportunity to go to officer training school and stayed at Fort Sill for OCS [Annotator's Note: officer candidate school]. Strausbaugh found it difficult in many respects, but it meant a promotion and he learned a lot in the next 90 days. After he graduated and had a short leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] home, he reported back to Fort Sill, then was sent on to Camp Carson, Colorado to the 98th Field Artillery Battalion, a mule pack operation [Annotator's Note: mule-drawn pack artillery]. Although he wasn't thrilled about the prospects of antiquated procedures, he was excited about being in a new and scenic location. When he learned that he was going overseas, it was a blow, because he wasn't prepared at that point for such news. While waiting to leave, he was put in a heatless barracks, all alone, and was quite depressed. But soon, two captains joined him, and they commiserated together over a bottle of liquor. When it came time to go to sleep, he thought he could win the war by himself.

Leo V. Strausbaugh was boarding a train, on his way overseas, worrying about the fact that his folks would not know what happened to him. He ran into a fellow named Brown that he knew from OCS [Annotator's Note: officer candidate school]. Together they went to Newport News, Virginia, and during the train ride, Strausbaugh wrote a letter to his parents and mailed it at one of the stops. The ship that took him to the Pacific went down the Atlantic coast, and it was a pretty smooth cruise to Australia, where they stayed a week. He then went on to New Guinea. They did not see any action where they landed and getting the mules over to the other side of the mountain, where there was combat, was almost prohibitive. He was near Port Moresby [Annotator's Note: Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea] from the beginning of February [Annotator's Note: 17 February 1943] and stayed approximately a year in field artillery. They began to convert [Annotator's Note: from field artillery to Army Rangers]. The mules were shipped to the CBI [Annotator's Note: China Burma India Theater], and a new commander took charge. The new officer, Colonel Mucci [Annotator's Note: US Army Colonel Henry Andrews Mucci] introduced himself, and said they were going to become Rangers. He told them they would have only three missions to do, they would all be home by Christmas, and they would all be promoted to majors. The men knew that wasn't true, but it sounded good. After telling them a little bit about Rangers, he gave them the option to refuse the assignment. Strausbaugh decided to stay with his friends and take the new challenge. Training was strenuous and intense, and conducted on the platoon and company level. He was promoted to First Lieutenant after demonstrating to a colonel that he and his platoon could successfully make an attack on a hill. When orders came, they learned they would be the first unit into the Philippine islands.

Their kickoff point was Finschhafen [Annotator's Note: Finschhafen, Papua New Guinea], and when the time came, Leo V. Strausbaugh boarded an APD [Annotator's Note: high-speed transport]. On 14 October 1944, the convoy in which he sailed encountered a typhoon, and for a while it seemed likely that the ship would roll over. Eventually, they reached Homonhon Island [Annotator's Note: Homonhon Island, Philippines, 18 October 1944], shelled the beach heavily, climbed down the ropes, got onto Homonhon, and there were no Japs [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese] there. Everyone was half-disappointed. However, the first night they landed was the occasion of the Battle of the Philippine Sea [Annotator's Note: Battle of Leyte Gulf, also referred to as the Second Battle of the Philippine Sea, 23 to 26 October 1944] and although Strausbaugh was not close enough to identify the ships, he could see the firing between ships and the air power above. Strausbaugh said he could hear shortwave communications between a pilot and a radio operator on a ship. The pilot was saying he had no place to land was running out of fuel. Strausbaugh was disheartened to hear the radio operator respond for him to land in the ocean and go to the bottom with the rest of them. A lot of them did go down, according to Strausbaugh. His group stayed on Homonhon a few more days before getting word that they should go to Suluan [Annotator's Note: Suluan Island, Philippines] where D Company [Annotator's Note: Company D, 6th Ranger Infantry Battalion] had previously gone. But there was no transportation, so they got Filipinos in sailboats to ferry them across the five or six miles. They landed at on the beach of a small village where they learned the Japanese were in the jungle. The Rangers put up a perimeter and moved in among the villagers. Strausbaugh lodged in a small shack with a Filipino family of four, where they all slept on the floor, but he took his meals with the rest of his men. The Rangers were eating rice they got from the locals, and one time when the stocks were low, Strausbaugh bought a pig with a promissory note he drafted on the spot. Remarkably, the war department paid for the pig after the war. There was only one water hole on the island, and the Rangers took turns with the Japanese to use it.

Leo V. Strausbaugh's mission [Annotator's Note: as part of Company B, 6th Ranger Battalion] on Suluan [Annotator's Note: Suluan Island, Philippines] was to destroy the lighthouse on a ridge. The night they began the operation, Strausbaugh was instructed to watch for a signal that the raid was underway, and to intercept any of the enemy that escaped down the hill. At around three in the morning, he heard a lot of gunfire. Strausbaugh gathered some men and approached the trail, but things got quiet. He waited until daybreak, and nothing was happening. He had just decided to go up to the lighthouse, when one of the men from the raiding party came running down the path and got hit in the leg. He made it to safety. The guy reported that the Americans were trapped in the lighthouse and needed rescue. Strausbaugh sent some men into the jungle area where the Japanese firing was coming from and took a couple of men with him to the lighthouse. When the Japanese began firing on him and his men, it revealed their position. The jungle group engaged the enemy while Strausbaugh got his fellow Rangers out of the lighthouse. They buried the two dead, and arrangements were made for the three wounded to be taken off the island. Strausbaugh never had to fire his weapon during this operation. He describes two of his fellow Rangers, Captain Fisher [Annotator's Note: US Army Captain James Canfield Fisher], who was a good doctor, and a very friendly and likable man; and Captain Simons [Annotator's Note: later US Army Colonel Arthur D. "Bull" Simons], who was a rough codger type. Simons once told Strausbaugh he was the best officer he ever had, but he didn't want the other fellows to think he was a teacher's pet, so he treated him in the same gruff manner as all the other guys.

Next, Leo V. Strausbaugh's unit [Annotator's Note: Company B, 6th Ranger Battalion] joined the rest of his battalion at Leyte [Annotator's Note: during the Battle of Leyte, 17 October to 26 December 1944; Leyte, Philippines], and there they patrolled and did other odds and ends. On 1 January 1945 they moved to the Lingayen Gulf [Annotator's Note: Invasion of Lingayen Gulf, Philippines, 6 January 1945]. One day after D-day [Annotator's Note: the day on which an operation or invasion takes effect], they went ashore on Santiago Island [Annotator's Note: Santiago Island, Philippines] to protect the Lingayen Gulf flank. During the two weeks he was there, the Cabanatuan rescue took place [Annotator's Note: Raid at Cabanatuan, also called The Great Raid, Cabanatuan City, Philippines, 30 January 1945]. There was no action on Santiago Island, so Strausbaugh's company went out on patrol to Ipo Dam [Annotator's Note: in Bulacan, Philippines] about ten miles into enemy territory. Strausbaugh was awarded the Bronze Star [Annotator's Note: the Bronze Star Medal is the fourth-highest award a United States service member can receive for a heroic or meritorious deed performed in a conflict with an armed enemy] for that operation. The success of that mission left the rest of the battalion thrilled to death. The battalion did a number of things around Luzon [Annotator's Note: Luzon, Philippines], but the last operation in which Strausbaugh was involved, and the one of which he is most proud, happened around 1 June 1945. After Santiago, Strausbaugh was promoted to captain. Colonel Garrett [Annotator's Note: US Army Major Robert “Woody” Garrett] was the new commander, and he ordered Strausbaugh to take his company up the western edge of Luzon to a little northern town close to Aparri [Annotator's Note: Aparri, Philippines]. The Japanese had control of Aparri and the nearby mountain area and were showing the 37th Division [Annotator's Note: 37th Infantry Division] stubborn resistance. Strausbaugh's mission was to capture Aparri, which was a distance of about 435 miles away from where Strausbaugh and his company originated. The Rangers met no resistance along the journey. When they reached the little town, however, Strausbaugh found the mayor had information on the operation, which was supposed to be secret, and he became alarmed about the possibility of spy activity.

Within a few miles of Aparri [Annotator's Note: Aparri, Philippines], Leo V. Strausbaugh met up with Major Connolly [Annotator's Note: US Army Major Robert V. Connolly], the task force commander. The attack force included a battery of artillery, another company of infantry [Annotator's Note: 127th Infantry Regiment, 32nd Infantry Division], a field hospital and a battalion of guerillas. Strausbaugh was ordered to dig in and wait for a signal, at which time he would spearhead the planned attack. His company [Annotator's Note: Company B, 6th Ranger Battalion] did so, and during the couple of days they waited, Strausbaugh got sick with a stomach disorder. The doctor said he thought it was Strausbaugh's nerves, and offered to send him home, but Strausbaugh unequivocally refused. The task force commander left, and when word came that they were going into battle, Strausbaugh was put in charge of the whole task force, which scared him to death. [Annotator's Note: Strausbaugh describes how he took control and conducted the mission until a new task force commander arrived.] After his company had achieved its goal, he arranged for his men to fly to Clark Center [Annotator's Note: now Clark Air Base, Luzon, Philippines] rather than wait, as he had been directed, for a ship to take them back to Luzon [Annotator's Note: Luzon, Philippines]. He doesn't remember how, but he got back to San Fernando [Annotator's Note: San Fernando, Philippines], where he reported to his colonel. He recognized that he had violated an order, but instead of being punished, Strausbaugh was commended for his initiative. Shortly thereafter, he received a complimentary letter from 6th United States Army Headquarters, signed by the commanding general, Walter Krueger [Annotator's Note: US Army General Walter Kreuger], for his leadership in the operation that ended the combat situation in the Philippines. Receiving that letter meant more to Strausbaugh than being awarded a medal.

Leo V. Strausbaugh was offered a chance to go home for 30 days, but he would have to forfeit all his points [Annotator's Note: a point system was devised based on a number of factors that determined when American servicemen serving overseas could return home] to do so. The Rangers [Annotator's Note: Army Rangers] already had orders for the invasion of Japan, with a projected casualty rate of 70 percent. Strausbaugh said he was not eager to go to Japan, and he had already been in the Pacific for three years, so going home sounded good. He decided to ship out, told his company [Annotator's Note: Company B, 6th Ranger Battalion] goodbye, and cried when he left. He was on the ship only few days when they dropped the bomb [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on 6 August 1945 and Nagasaki, Japan on 9 August 1945]. When he reached the United States, he was told that he wasn't going back overseas. That marked the end of his Ranger days. After about six months, Strausbaugh felt he got lost in the shuffle. He was transferred to an infantry camp, and he decided to get out, but signed on to the reserves. He stayed another 28 years with the reserves, went through the Command and General Staff College [Annotator's Note: at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas], then attended the Industrial College of the Armed Forces [Annotator's Note: at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C.]. Strausbaugh taught command and general staff for ten years, became director of instruction [Annotator's Note: 5038th United States Army Reserve School, 102nd Infantry Division] for five years, was promoted to Colonel and retired with all the benefits [Annotator's Note: in 1974].