Statue at Embassy Honors One Slovak 's Contribution to World War II

January 18, 2008

To honor Slovak-American relations, U.S. Steel Slovakia, represented by Michal Pinter, presented a replica statue of the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, which dramatically depicts the famous flag raising on Iwo Jima, a Japanese island, to Ambassador Vincent Obsitnik. The flag raising took place in a fierce conflict on Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945 and was captured in a now iconic photograph, later turned into a sculpture. Although the picture and statue are known very well by Americans even today, very few realize that one of the Marines who took part in the event was a Slovak named Michal Strank who was born in Jarabina, Slovakia on 10 November 1919. Sergeant Strank immigrated to Pennsylvania at an early age and graduated from Franklin High School in 1937 and joined the Marine Corps in 1939. The Marines of Marine Security Guard Detachment Bratislava took part in the brief ceremony, which occurred on January 18. Ambassador Obsitnik presented the statue to the Marine Security Guard detachment who now display it in the main lobby of the Embassy.