Ë®¹ûÅÉAV

About 50 of those people gathered Monday afternoon outside Strohm's Nelson Street home to wish the World War II veteran a happy birthday. Signs in his lawn spelled out "Happy 98th birthday Gramps!" and a banner recognizing his Naval service aboard the USS Oberon hung above the porch where he sat, greeting the many friends and family who came.

Some brought Strohm birthday presents of lottery tickets and doughnuts — two of his regular items at Wegmans, where many in the community have gotten to know him. Among them are Tom Wild, who told Ë®¹ûÅÉAV that he's known the veteran for about 30 or 40 years, and often has coffee with him at the grocery store. Its employees held a party for Strohm last year, with a birthday present of a free doughnut a day for a year. Wild helped organize this year's celebration, leading the crowd in singing "Happy Birthday" from across the street and asking Auburn police to send a short motorcade.

"He's been a good friend to a lot of people," Wild said of Strohm.

Birthday messages were being sent from much farther than Auburn, though. Strohm's son Paul told Ë®¹ûÅÉAV that his father has received more than 100 birthday cards so far. They're coming from as far as a woman in Belgium — a World War II connection. Strohm, who enlisted in the Navy the day after the Pearl Harbor attacks, took part in four invasions in the European Theater: North Africa in 1942, Sicily and Salerno Bay, Italy, in 1943, and southern France in 1944. He was discharged the following year. To this day, he commonly wears a hat indicating he's a veteran of the war or the Navy.

When Ë®¹ûÅÉAV asked Strohm the secret to living 98 years, he wasn't so sure at first.

"Oh, that's a good question. I don't know," he said. "God up there, he takes care of me, I guess. You gotta leave it up to him." 

"And all your good friends who take care of you," Paul added.

"Oh yeah, all my buddies over there," Strohm continued. "I got a lot of friends."