David Sanford Strout, one of the few Strout men born in the South before the mid-20th century, distinguished himself in service during WWII as a particularly fearless paratrooper.

Unlike his father and grandfather before him, David opted out of a career in the church in favor of a career at Exxon Mobile as a mechanical engineer and math whiz. David and wife Josephine traveled a good amount of the world during their more than 50 years of marriage.

In 2013, thanks to an effort mounted by U.S. Army historian John Brinsfield, the French Ministry posthumously named Private Strout of the 517th Parachute Infantry a Knight in the National Order of the Legion of Honor, noting his “valient” service “in the Liberation of Southern France and the Battle of the Bulge.”

“Without the bravery of Mr. Strout and that of those who fought alongside him,” wrote Consul General de Maisonneuve, “France and Europe might have never been liberated from the barbarity of Nazi occupation. His efforts are both admirable and an example to follow.”