Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico, center lower, Slovakian Ambassador to the U.S. Radovan Javorcik, right lower, Slovakian Defense Attaché Brig. Gen. Slavomir Staviarsky, left, Slovakia’s Secretary of Ministry Foreign Affairs Mark Eštok, second from left, and others visit the gravesite of U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Michael Strank in Section 12 of Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, Feb. 21, 2025. Born in Slovakia, Strank immigrated to Pennsylvania with his parents as a child and enlisted in the Marines in 1939. He was one of six Marines depicted in A.P. photographer Joe Rosenthal’s iconic photograph, “Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima,” which inspired the Marine Corps War Memorial just north of Arlington National Cemetery. Taken in 1945, the image depicts Strank and other Marines raising the second U.S. flag on Mount Suribachi at the Battle of Iwo Jima. Strank was killed in action just a week after this photo was taken. (U.S. Army photo by Elizabeth Fraser / Arlington National Cemetery / released)