Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


1 posted on 07/29/2008 8:53:28 PM PDT by RDTF
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies ]


To: RDTF
Heartwarming story. Thanks for posting.
2 posted on 07/29/2008 9:02:30 PM PDT by Ciexyz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: RDTF

Years too late but a move that needed to be done. Kudos to CIS.


3 posted on 07/29/2008 9:04:49 PM PDT by max americana
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: RDTF

Good post. Thanks.


4 posted on 07/29/2008 9:14:44 PM PDT by Eagles6 ( Typical White Guy: Christian, Constitutionalist, Heterosexual, Redneck)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: RDTF
Long overdue!




5 posted on 07/29/2008 9:19:56 PM PDT by ConorMacNessa (HM/2 USN, 3/5 Marines, RVN 1969. St. Peregrine, patron saint of cancer patients, pray for us.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: RDTF; Lancey Howard; Marine_Uncle; jazusamo; smoothsailing

What do you want to bet that his Service Jacket correctly listed him as a US Citizen?

This is nothing more than a “feel-good” exercise by the morons in CIS to deflect attention from their miserable performance in handling our immigrant’s problems. I’m willing to bet his family was surprised when they were contacted, as no one had given it a passing thought, and likely Sgt. Michael Strank, USMC, didn’t either.


6 posted on 07/29/2008 10:25:07 PM PDT by brityank (The more I learn about the Constitution, the more I realise this Government is UNconstitutional !!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: RDTF
Sgt. Michael Strank, who was born in Czechoslovakia and came to the United States when he was 3, derived U.S. citizenship when his father was naturalized in 1935. However, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services recently discovered that Strank never was given citizenship papers.

So they give him his papers 63 years after his death? For what conceivable reason? Whew. This is some goofy stuff here. I mean, I doubt he's grateful or anything....

(Man, there must be something in the water...)

8 posted on 07/29/2008 10:45:49 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

Sergeant Michael Strank

9 posted on 07/30/2008 4:20:17 AM PDT by A.A. Cunningham
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: RDTF

After all these years....seems to me I have read article after article of Soldiers (enlisting/wia/kia/etc.) getting citizenship very quickly, and just lately not years ago, and some of them previously illegals at that! Hmmm...

Ref
That Flag On Suribachi....
http://www.angelfire.com/ca/dickg/flagwtc.html


11 posted on 07/30/2008 4:59:37 AM PDT by gunnyg
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

Iwo Jima flag raiser posthumously receives citizenship certificate
7/30/2008 By Lance Cpl. Bryan G. Carfrey, Division of Public Affairs

ARLINGTON, Va. — Sixty-three years after he helped raise the American flag atop Iwo Jima’s Mount Suribachi, Sgt. Michael Strank’s younger sister, Mary Pero, 75, accepted his official certificate of citizenship during a ceremony at the Marine Corps War Memorial July 29. Strank was mortally wounded eight days after Joe Rosenthal captured the now iconic flag raising. The Pulitzer Prize winning photograph ran in Pero’s local paper, but she didn’t find out that her brother was in the picture until after his memorial service.

Pero said she was proud to receive her brother’s certificate on his behalf in front of the statue that immortalizes a moment of his life.

“I’m just so honored and proud to be here today to accept this certificate in honor of my brother,” Pero said. “I was under the impression that when my parents got citizenship papers he automatically became a citizen, and he was, but he didn’t have the certificate.”

Strank, born in Jarabenia, Czechoslovakia, came to the United States in 1922 at age 3 and became an American citizen in 1935 after his father’s naturalization. However, Strank never received official documentation and was listed as a Pennsylvania native.

Gunnery Sgt. Matt D. Blais, detachment commander, Marine Security Guard Detachment Bratislava, Slovaki, discovered Strank was not a natural-born citizen, according to Jonathan Scharfen, acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

During the ceremony, Scharfen, a former Marine infantry officer, called Strank an “American hero” and said he hailed from “a long line of famous American immigrants who served their county in a time of war.”

“If you’re 18 or younger when your father is naturalized it’s automatic, but you always want it to be recognized officially and that’s what we’re doing today,” Scharfen said.

Scharfen also said Strank's story represents the contributions that immigrants have made to the United States throughout its history.

Pero thanked Scharfen for his kind words and said she plans to keep her brother’s certificate of citizenship close by and carry on his memory.

“Anytime I’m at one of these services and I hear the (Marines’ Hymn) it just gets to me,” Pero said. “I have to shed a tear no matter where I’m at.”

Mary Pero, 75, of Conemaugh, Pa., poses with Jonathan Scharfen, acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immagration Services, for media after receiving her brother's certificate of citizenship at the Marine Corps War Memorial July 29. Her brother, Sgt. Michael Strank, helped raise the American flag atop Iwo Jima's Mount Suribach sixty-three years ago.
080729-M-8136F-002.jpg
Sgt. Clinton Firstbrook
Division of Public Affairs
ARLINGTON, Va.
7/29/2008 11:40:00 AM

Mary Pero, 75, of Conemaugh, Pa., receives her brother's certificate of citizenship from Jonathan Scharfen, acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. "I am just so honored and proud to be here today to accept this certificate in honor of my brother," Pero said.
080729-M-8136F-001.jpg
Sgt. Clinton Firstbrook
Division of Public Affairs
ARLINGTON, Va.
7/29/2008 11:38:00 AM

Cols. Dave Lapan and Gregg Sturdevant talk with Mary Perot, 75, next to the Marine Corps War Memorial after she was presented with her brother's certificate of citizenship July 29. Her brother, Sgt. Michael Strank and the right-most Marine in the statue, was mortally wounded eight days after Joe Rosenthal captured the now iconic flag raising.
080729-M-8136F-003.jpg
Sgt. Clinton Firstbrook
Division of Public Affairs
ARLINGTON, Va.
7/29/2008 11:43:00 AM

Tommy Pero, 9, holds a black and white photograph of Sgt. Michael Strank, his great uncle, while his grandmother, Mary Pero, receives Strank's certificate of citizenship during a ceremony at the Marine Corps War Memorial July 29.
080729-M-7590G-001.jpg
Lance Cpl. Cristina Noelia Gil
Division of Public Affairs
ARLINGTON, Va.
7/29/2008 12:01:00 PM

12 posted on 07/31/2008 5:45:48 AM PDT by A.A. Cunningham
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson