World War I Years
Strahan with another man in a military uniform and a woman
When the United States entered World War I in 1917, Strahan joined the millions of young American men who had entered military service. He enlisted and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the 108th Field Signal Battalion in May 1917. Before shipping out to nearby Fort Dodge in northeast Iowa, Oscar married Marion Hardy in August 1917. The two had met during his time as a high school teacher in Perry, Iowa.
Lieutenant Strahan in army uniform.
Oscar served as an officer in Company C of the 118th overseas in France in World War I. During his time in the army, Oscar rose to the rank of First Lieutenant. Oscar never spoke about his experiences in France during or after the war. This may be because many veterans of the conflict were reluctant to discuss their experiences. Nobody knew it then, but Strahan and many others were possibly affected by what is known now as PTSD.