Wallace Strobel


Wallace C. Strobel was a United States Army officer who was the subject of a famous photograph during World War II. Strobel, at the time a lieutenant in the 502nd [Parachute Infantry Regiment], was photographed with General Dwight D. Eisenhower the night before the regiment's jump into Normandy on June 6, 1944. The picture captured Eisenhower speaking to paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division on the eve of the invasion and remains one of the most compelling and classic images from World War II, as well as one of the most famous of General Eisenhower.
Strobel described the photo as follows:
Strobel settled in Saginaw, Michigan after the war. In 2016, his M1911A1 pistol and a collection of captured German pistols were donated to the National WWII Museum in New Orleans. Strobel donated his uniform to the Dwight D. [Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home|Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library] in 1992. His children attended Douglas MacArthur High School and Dwight D. Eisenhower High School in Saginaw. In 1990, the U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp using this photograph of the historic moment.