 Strickler accepted a reduction in rank to lieutenant colonel in order to command 1st Battalion, 112th Infantry Regiment, a unit of the 28th Infantry Division.He later served as commander of 1st Battalion, 109th Infantry.In September 1944 he became commander of the 109th Infantry, which he led until December, when he was named to command of the 110th Infantry Regiment, which he led until the end of the war, again receiving promotion to colonel.