Walter Benno Strauss was born on June 15, 1912 to parents Richard and Bienca Strauss in Wrocław, Poland (then Germany). At age 26, Strauss immigrated to the United States and arrived at New York City abord the Queen Mary in 1938. A year later, World War II began, and in August 1942, at 30 years old and without a spouse or family, Strauss enlisted in the US Army at an enlistment site in Erie, Pennsylvania.