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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:

Robert P. Strauss is honored for his interest in flight and service to naval aviation. His initial interest may have been nurtured by growing up in Wichita, Kansas (known at the time as the Air Capitol of the World) or it may have developed from his teenage friends and flights in their home built gliders. Wherever his aviation interest began, it certainly was solidified with the start of World War II.
In 1943 following High School he entered Wichita State University and majored in engineering. While enrolled in ROTC at Wichita State he was accepted into the VI2 Naval Officer training program. He later received notice of his transfer to the V5 flight training program and was requested to report the next day to Kansas City for a flight physical. A train wreck on his travel to Kansas City caused him to stay awake all night prior to his morning physical exam. He failed the eye test due to eye strain and was rescheduled for another exam. Now 18 years of age, before he could retake the flight physical he was drafted into the service. He lobbied hard for the Navy and, of the over 400 men in his group drafted that day, he was the only individual not placed into the Army. Upon reporting for duty over half of his group was selected for the Marines.
Robert Strauss was inducted into the Navy on March 2, 1944 and sent to Boot Camp at the Naval Training Station: Farragut, Idaho. His college education, ROTC, general classification tests, and his placement as Recruit Petty Officer Company Commander in Boot Camp qualified him for further Petty Officer training in Aviation Radio. He attended Aviation Radiomen and Radar Operator Schools at the Naval Air Technical Training Center in Memphis. He was selected by the Commanding Officer to remain in Memphis as an Aviation Radioman and later Aviation Communications Officer Instructor with a rank of Aviation Radioman Petty Officer. While in the Navy he suffered a minor injury and resulting disability to his right thumb while helping to move a SB2C Torpedo Bomber on a busy flight line. On March 4, 1946 he was discharged from the Navy. After his naval service, he completed his B.S. degree in Business Management at the University of Tulsa. Robert Strauss spent most of his working career employed with I.B.M. He has never again had the opportunity to be directly associated with aviation.