Many soldiers of Slovak origin have fought and will fight in the US Armed Forces, Slovak Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad (OLaNO) stated on Tuesday after laying flowers and lighting a candle on the grave of sergeant Michal Straka, who’s buried in the Arlington National Cemetery in the US.
“He’s a soldier who’s very well-known from historical photographs as [one of those] who raised the US flag on Iwo Jima following the decisive battle there. Few people in Slovakia know that he was originally a Slovak who came from a village near Stara Lubovna [Presov region], and that there’s a beautiful museum dedicated to his origins and life in the USA,” said Nad.
Nad, along with Slovak parliamentary defence committee chair Juraj Krupa (OLaNO) and Slovak Ambassador to the US Radovan Javorcik, also laid a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Arlington Cemetery and paid homage to the Kennedy family at the site of their final rest.
