May 24, 2007
The worth of a country

Dan Sernoffsky

Matej Kocak was born in Austria in 1882. Michal Strenk was born in Slovakia in 1919. Tibor Rubin was born in Hungary in 1929. Lewis Albanese was born in Italy in 1946, Rafael Peralta was born in Mexico in 1979.

Five men born at different times in different parts of the world, all speaking a different language. They share three common traits.

All five emigrated to the United States. All five served in the U.S. armed forces. All five won the Congressional Medal of Honor, four of them posthumously. Only two of them had been granted U.S. citizenship before their service.

As the debate continues to grow over the question of illegal immigration and what should be done, whether the myriad of illegal immigrants now in the United States should be granted amnesty, should be allowed to become citizens, or should be deported, it is worth remembering at this particular time that in a country of immigrants, there are those who have come to these shores not to avail themselves of government handouts, but for liberty. It was not the promise of riches that attracted those men and their families, it was the promise of the freedom to pursue their ambitions.

We are about to celebrate Memorial Day, for most simply a long weekend interspersed with picnics and various other celebrations marking the beginning of summer. There will be the requisite parades and ceremonies but somehow, even as we watch aging men in now ill-fitting uniforms try to summon forth from their memories of their youth, when they were young and strong and daring, to salute the passing colors, we fail to truly appreciate what they faced in service to their country.

We watch, and never really pay attention, to the youngsters and adults who are part of civic organizations like Boy Scouts who help honor those who served, and who paid the ultimate price, by putting American flags on their graves.

We go to our picnics and barbecues, our parties and ballgames on this long weekend, we fail to truly appreciate the country we have, the price that has been paid for it, and what our country truly means.

Matej Kocak was 24 when he arrived in the United States. He struggled with English but he worked at it. He wanted to be a citizen, and the love he felt for his new country led him to enlist in the U.S. Marines. He joined the Marine Corps less than a year after arriving in the United States, and was serving his fourth tour of duty when he went to France. In October, 1918, he single-handedly charged a German machine gun nest in the Argone Forest, putting it out of commission, then attacked another. He was killed in action, receiving the Medal of Honor posthumously for his conspicuous bravery.

Michal Strenk came to the United States as a youngster, joining, with the rest of his family, his father, who had emigrated earlier to work in the steel mills in Western Pennsylvania. He graduated from high school near Pittsburgh and joined the Marines in 1939. In February, 1945, Sgt. Michal Strenk, his name now Anglicized to Mike Strank, was the leader of a squad that raised the American flag on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima. The photo of that flag raising is one of the most famous in history. Mike Strank never saw the photo. He was killed in action on March 1, receiving the Medal of Honor posthumously.

Tibor Rubin is Jewish, and because he was Jewish, he was rounded up with his family by the Nazis and spent 14 months in a concentration camp. He was liberated by the American army in 1945, and in 1947, emigrated to the United States. Alone, and feeling deeply in debt to the country that saved him, he enlisted in the U.S. Army. A corporal, he was serving in Korea when he became a prisoner of war. He spent two and a half years in a Communist POW camp before being liberated a second time. His actions while a POW were credited with saving the lives of many of his fellow prisoners, and in recognition of that service, he was awarded the Medal of Honor. It was not until after his return to the United States, however, that he was granted citizenship.

Lewis Albanese came to the United States as a child, moving, with his family, to Seattle, where he grew up and graduated from high school. He joined the Army shortly after graduation and was serving in Vietnam when his platoon came under heavy fire. PFC Albanese charged an enemy position, killing several enemy snipers, then engaged two more in hand-to-hand combat. His selfless action cost him his life but saved the lives of many others. He was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously.

Rafael Peralta arrived in the United States as an illegal immigrant but he quickly went about the business of making himself legal. The first step was getting a green card, which allowed him to work. The day he received his green card, he joined the Marines, and it was while he was serving in the Marine Corps that he earned his citizenship. He was serving with the Marines in Iraq when he was was wounded while taking part in a search for insurgents. As his fellow Marines tried to rescue him from the house in which they were fighting, insurgents threw a grenade into the room. Sgt. Peralta covered the grenade with his body, dying when it exploded but saving the lives of his fellows. He has been nominated for the Medal of Honor.

When Tibor Rubin received his citizenship, he said “I always wanted to become a citizen of the United States, and when I became a citizen it was one of the happiest days of my life ... When I came to America, it was the first time I was free.”

It is good to live in a county that so many have sacrificed so much for, and it is good to remember why so many were willing to sacrifice.

Ellie