🕒 Date of last update of the article: 13.02.2024 at 10:21 p.m | 🖋 Author: Viktor Shatrov
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🕒 Date of last update of the article: 13.02.2024 at 10:21 p.m | 🖋 Author: Viktor Shatrov
On 17 February 2015, Mykhailo Kolodko created a mini-sculpture commemorating the American soldier of Ukrainian descent Michael Strenk. He, along with five fellow soldiers, was captured in Joe Rosenthal’s famous photograph “Raising the Flag over Iwo Jima”, taken on 23 February 1945. His feat was also immortalised in the film Flags of Our Fathers by Clint Eastwood.
The mini-sculpture is located in the courtyard of a Slovak-medium school (GPS: 48.625937, 22.296445). Thus, it was decided to perpetuate the memory of the great countryman for both Ukrainians and Slovaks. Michael Strenk was a Ukrainian by birth. However, he lived with his family in a settlement in what is now Slovakia.
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| 🗺 Location | N48°37′34″ E22°17′47″ |
| 🗽 Opening date | 02/17/2015 |
| 🧑 Sculptor | Mykhailo Kolodko |
| 🧭 Distance from the center of Uzhgorod | Near |
| 🚙 Road for | Car, on foot |
| 🏕 Stop with a tent | No |
| 🏡 Housing nearby | Uzhgorod |
| ☕ Cafes and shops | Uzhgorod |
Michael Strenk was the platoon leader of the US Army soldiers who raised the flag over Iwo Jima, Japan, on Mount Suribachi. The Battle of Iwo Jima was the first operation of US forces on Japanese soil. It was one of the turning points of the Second World War. By the end of March 1945, three of the six men in the photo were killed in action, including Michael Strenk.
An interesting legend about this mini-sculpture is told by Nadia Popadiuk in her book Uzhgorod – the World Capital of Mini-Sculptures. According to the legend, in 1921, when Michael Strenk mother was only two years old, she had a dream in which her husband was falling into a chasm, and a young man threw him a long piece of cloth and he grabbed it and managed to save himself. Taking a closer look at the cloth, she noticed that it was an American flag, which the young man grabbed and ran up a mountain, where he later disappeared from the horizon. She woke up and realised it was a sign. After consulting with her husband, the family decided to move to the United States in search of a better life. That is why, according to legend, Michael’s parents, Vasyl Strenk and Marta Grofikova, natives of the village of Oryabina (Slovakia), decided to seek a better life overseas. After Michael’s death, his mother recalled her prophetic dream and decided to immortalise her son’s heroism by installing a mini-sculpture depicting a young man with a flag on his native Ukrainian land in the city of Uzhgorod.
| 🔰 Start | From the Andy Warhol mini-sculpture |
| 🚶 Walking distance (through Zhupanatska Square and Tykha Street) | 68 m |
| 🕒 Approximate time | 1 minute |
| ⬆ Rise | Mostly without ups and downs |
Author of the article: Viktor Shatrov
Number of articles: 1100+
Knowledge of languages:: Ukrainian, English
Favourite quote: “Travelling – the only thing that makes you richer“
He was born and lived all his life in Uzhhorod. He graduated with a gold medal from Uzhhorod School No. 1 named after Taras Shevchenko (now Uzhhorod Lyceum named after Taras Shevchenko). He studied at the History Department of UzhNU, graduating with honours in 2009. He worked as a senior researcher at the Transcarpathian Museum of Folk Architecture and Life, a lecturer at the East European Slavic University.
