NAME: ______
STUDENT HANDOUT 2-THE STORY OF MICHAEL STRANK
AND THE UNITED STATES MARINES AT IWO JIMA
Michael Strank was born in Czechoslovakia in 1919. He and his family lived in a one-room house with a dirt floor. In search of a better life, his father immigrated to America, found a home, and then brought his family over. They settled near Johnstown, Pennsylvania where Michael’s father found work in a steel mill. Michael was a good student—he was said to have a photographic memory--and enjoyed playing the French horn. After he graduated from high school in Franklin Borough, Pennsylvania, he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps for eighteen months and then enlisted in the Marine Corps on October 1939.
Not long after he enlisted, the 20 year old saw combat in World War II. He fought bravely in several battles. In February 1945, the Marines were ordered to clear the Japanese island of Iwo Jima because the Americans wanted to use the island as a base for the B-29 bombers. Michael knew the fighting there would be close and bloody. At twenty-five years of age, Mike was the oldest member of his platoon. Since he had a lot of experience fighting in the war already, he earned the respect of his fellow soldiers. Interviewed after the war, his peers described Strank as “a Marine’s Marine,” “…the finest man I ever knew,” “…the best Marine I ever knew.” (wikipedia, Michael Strank) Michael was promoted to Sergeant and was offered, but refused to take, another promotion. He refused this last promotion so that he could remain with the men whom he had trained.
The Japanese found out the Americans were coming to take over their island, and they did everything that they could to defend their land. The fighting went on for months before Michael and his fellow Marines landed on the shores of Iwo Jima to help the cause. The Marines fought with everything that they had. Using flamethrowers, grenades, tanks, and artillery, the Marines literally fought their way up the mountain, yard by yard.
On the morning of February 23, 1945, the commander sent a forty-man patrol up the mountain, where the men raised a small American flag before eliminating the remaining Japanese threat on the island. Down near the base, officers decided that a larger flag could better be seen, so they sent Sergeant Strank and his platoon to climb the mountain and raise a larger flag.
Just as Strank and five other soldiers were about to erect the flag, a photographer named Joe Rosenthal snapped a picture. Two other photographers, one with a movie camera, captured the moment when they raised the American flag. Two days later, the photographer’s photo appeared in newspapers all across the nation, igniting a wave of patriotism. Citizens truly appreciated the great sacrifices American soldiers were making in Iwo Jima, and they were proud of this victorious moment which captured the soldiers’ team work and strength.
Three of the six men who planted the flag would not survive the fighting. Michael Strank was killed on March 1, 1945, only a few days following the fighting. More than 26,000 Marines were killed and wounded while taking over the island of Iwo Jima. However, their spirit lives on in the huge United States Marine Corps Memorial in Arlington, Virginia. The 110-foot high memorial is a copy of the famous photograph taken of the brave men raising our American flag on the island of Iwo Jima.
Michael Strank
November 10, 1919-March 1, 1945
Michael Strank [Mykhal Strenk (Rusyn) or Michal Strenk (Slovak)] was born in Jarabina, Slovakia and died at Iwo Jima. He served in the military from 1939-1945 and fought in the Battle of Bougainville and the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II. He was a Sergeant who fought in the 2nd Battalion of the 28th Marines (the same military group you heard about earlier in class). He won the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart for his brave fighting and actions during the war.
Raising the Flag at Iwo Jima
This picture, the flag raising moment at Iwo Jima captured by photographer Joe Rosenthal, is said to be the most replicated image in history.
Courtesy Library of Congress
United States Marine Corps War Memorial
This memorial designed by Horace Peaslee was dedicated by President Dwight Eisenhower on November 10, 1954 and is located in Rosslyn, Virginia. At the base of the memorial the inscription reads, “In honor and in memory of the men of the United States Marine Corps who have given their lives to their country since November 10, 1775.” Admiral Nimitz words about the fighting men on Iwo Jima can also be found, “Uncommon Valor was a Common Virtue.” The memorial brings into a new dimension the photograph Rosenthal captured at Iwo Jima. Sculptors working on the memorial even had the surviving Marines model to recreate the image.
Courtesy United States Senate