No limitations - Adolph Strobel worked as dairy inspector after losing a limb to wounds in WWI

Raised on a farm near Lohman, Adolph Strobel was drafted into the U.S. Army during World War I. He was severely wounded in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, losing one of his legs. Prior to his discharge, he was fitted with a prosthetic leg and went on to attend college, later becoming an inspector for a dairy. Courtesy of Jeremy P. Ämick

Growing up on a farm near Lohman, Adolph Strobel and his siblings learned at a young age how to cultivate crops and raise livestock. They came of age attending classes taught by the pastor at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Lohman and once becoming adults, embarked upon their own lives. But for Adolph, his own career as a farmer was suspended by World War I and left him to find new ways to earn a living after suffering a severe combat injury.
 
Adolph Henry Strobel was born May 25, 1892, the son of John E. Strobel and Anna Woehrer. The daily grind of assorted responsibilities made the years pass by quickly and soon young Strobel made the decision to pursue his own future in agriculture by working his own farm.
 
“Registration for service in the United States Army was made the occasion of a big demonstration here today,” reported the Kansas City Times on June 6, 1917, of events that took place in Jefferson City. “A parade this afternoon was followed by patriotic speeches during which business was suspended.”
 
This registration was the first of three that took place during World War I as part of the new military draft mechanism. The first registration was held on June 5, 1917, for men between the ages of 21 and 31. Adolph Strobel, who was 25 years old at the time, registered at his local precinct in Lohman.
 
In early August 1917, Strobel passed his physical examination and was inducted into the U.S. Army in Jefferson City a few weeks later, on October 4, 1917. Like many of his fellow draftees, Strobel was not keen on serving in the military and failed to board the special train departing Jefferson City and bound for Camp Funston, Kansas, on October 5.
 
Weeks earlier, it was reported that of the 60 men who had been examined for service along with Strobel, 45 requested exemptions and did not want to serve.
 
“One of the boys from Centertown said that Strobel had declared that he did not want to go to war and would not go,” the Daily Post explained on October 5, 1917.  “Sheriff Richter stated this afternoon that if the boys came here and gave a good excuse for not appearing when the board summoned them, they might be excused.”
 
Several days later, Strobel was apprehended by authorities in Lohman and taken to Jefferson Barracks for processing. From there, he was transferred to Camp Funston and began training as a soldier assigned to Company D, 356th Infantry—a regiment comprised of men from Missouri. 
 
The training cycle presented many difficulties for the soldiers, including shortages in supplies and epidemics such as meningitis. Strobel and many of his fellow soldiers were removed from the regiment and sent as replacements for other units preparing for deployment overseas.
 
Military records reveal that Strobel was transferred to Company L, 4th Infantry Regiment on February 26, 1918.
 
Chris Kolakowski wrote in an article for the American Battlefield Trust that “the 4th Infantry deployed on April 6, 1918 as part of the 3rd Infantry Division. Thrust into line in July 1918 as the Germans made a last bid to capture Paris, the regiment was one of the units that blunted the German drive after an epic four-day stand along the Marne River.”
 
He added, “Ever after, the 3rd Division has been known as the Rock of the Marne.”
 
Strobel served in the division while they participated in other major engagements of the war such as the St. Mihiel Offensive. But it was during the battles occurring in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive that forever left Strobel with unexpected physical limitations.
         
Richard Faulkner described in “The U.S. Army Campaigns of World War I” that “the Meuse-Argonne Campaign would gain the distinction of being the largest and most costly military operation in American history. Over a million American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines, as well as 135,000 French soldiers, participated in the offensive.”
 
During fighting on October 24, 1918, Private Strobel was seriously wounded with shell shrapnel. By the time the Meuse-Argonne Offensive ended on November 11, 1918, the 3rd Division sustained more than 16,000 battle casualties.
 
Evacuated from the line, Strobel remained in an overseas military hospital for the next 2-1/2 months, losing a leg because of his injuries. He was then sent to an Army hospital at Camp Dodge, Iowa and Fort Sheridan, Illinois, and was eventually fitted with an artificial limb.
 
“Mr. Strobel intends to take advantage of the professional training that is offered the wounded men by the government and will likely begin that work in the near future,” shared the Central Missourian on September 26, 1919.
 
Receiving his discharge in November 1919, Strobel returned to Lohman and the following year invested in the new farm cooperative in Russellville that became the MFA Exchange. Unable to accomplish the farm tasks he could do before the war, he enrolled at the University of Missouri in 1921 and finished a short course in agriculture.
 
For more than a decade, Strobel worked as a milk inspector for a St. Louis dairy and on October 2, 1934, married Flora Siebert from Moniteau County. The couple never had any children and eventually settled in Centertown, where Strobel’s life was abruptly ended by an unexpected circumstance.  
 
“Mr. Strobel was driving his automobile when his wife noticed he was becoming ill,” the California Democrat reported on October 19, 1950. “She steered the car to the side of the road near a service station in Centertown and called for an ambulance.”
 
A doctor arriving at the scene a little while later said that Strobel had died almost instantly from a heart attack. The remains of the 58-year-old were laid to rest in McGirk Cemetery in eastern Moniteau County. 
 
Any hesitancy Strobel demonstrated regarding serving in World War I was later eclipsed by his making one of the greatest sacrifices in service to his country—the loss of a limb. Not indulging in regret for his circumstances or physical limitations, he availed himself of the opportunity for an education and was invested in making a better life for his family.  
 
Jeremy P. Ämick is the author of the historical compilation “Moments on the Moreau.”   

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