Michael Strank (November 10, 1919 – March 1, 1945) was a United States Marine Corps sergeant who was killed in action during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. He was one of the Marines who raised the second U.S. flag on Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945, as shown in the iconic photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima by photographer Joe Rosenthal. Of the six Marines depicted in the photo, Strank was the only one to be correctly identified from the beginning; the other five were either assigned the wrong locations (Ira Hayes and Franklin Sousley), or, were given the names of Marines who were not in the photo. The first flag raised over Mount Suribachi at the south end of Iwo Jima was deemed too small. Later that day, Strank, a rifle company squad leader in the 5th Marine Division, was ordered up the mountain with three Marines to raise a larger flag. A photograph of the second flag-raising became famous and was widely reproduced. The second flag raising was also filmed in color. Before Iwo Jima, Strank served with the Marine Raiders in the Battle of Bougainville. The Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, was modeled after Rosenthal's photograph of six Marines raising the second flag on Iwo Jima. Early life Michael Strank was born in a Rusyn family in the Prešov village of Orjabyna in the Czechoslovak Republic (today it is a district Stará Ľubovňa, Jarabina), Prešov Region of northeastern Czechoslovakia (now in Slovakia). His two brothers, Petro and John, and his sister Mary were born in the United States to Vasil Strank (later, in the U.S., known as Charles Strank) and Marta Grófiková, Rusyn immigrants. In his application for American citizenship, Vasil Strenk's father indicated the nationality of his family as Ruthenian. Vasil Strank moved to Franklin Borough (near Johnstown, Pennsylvania, United States), found work in the coal mines for the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, and brought his family to Pennsylvania three years later, when he could pay for their voyage. Strank attended the public schools of Franklin Borough and graduated from Franklin Borough High School in 1937. He joined the Civilian Conservation Corps, served for 18 months, and afterwards became a Pennsylvania state highway laborer. U.S. Marine Corps Strank enlisted in the Marine Corps at Pittsburgh for four years service on October 6, 1939. He was assigned to the Marine Corps