FOLLOW ME

Quick answer: Who was Sergeant Michael Strank?

Michael Strank, born Mykhal Strenk in Jarabina, a Carpatho-Rusyn village in today's Slovakia, came to Pennsylvania as a boy, worked the coal mines, and joined the Marines in 1939. He helped raise the flag on Iwo Jima on February 23, 1945, and was killed six days later. He rests at Arlington.

It was 91 degrees before ten in the morning when John led a group of Ukrainian soldiers and veterans, some only days from the front, on a four-mile walk through Arlington National Cemetery, with former congressman David Bonior and his wife, Judy. The visitors didn't need the heat or the graves explained. They wanted the stories. Kennedy's eternal flame. Thurgood Marshall and George Marshall. Jimmy Doolittle, who expected a court-martial and got the Medal of Honor. Audie Murphy under a plain government headstone. The changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns. Afterward, in the cool of the Memorial Amphitheater, they said their country's history hadn't allowed them to build a place like this. John saved Section 12 for last: Sergeant Michael Strank, born in Jarabina, a Carpatho-Rusyn village in today's Slovakia, who raised the flag on Mount Suribachi and died six days later. His citizenship papers weren't issued until 2008. The Ukrainians stood at his stone a long time and laid flowers.

Why it matters for leaders: The best leaders go first and promise to bring their people home; that's what “follow me” has always meant.

Q: What did Strank tell his Marines before each fight?

A: Follow me, and I'll try to bring you all safely home to your mothers.

Q: When was Strank's citizenship made official?

A: His citizenship certificate was finally issued in 2008, sixty-three years after Iwo Jima, presented to his youngest sister.

Read the full essay on Substack → https://heroespath.substack.com/p/follow-me

By John Fenzel, founder and CEO of Heroes' Path Foundation