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Send-off Dinner for Ambassador Obsitnik

Members of the Friends of Slovakia Board of Directors and Board of Advisors gathered at Amb. Kacer's residence November 12 for a buffet reception co-sponsored by FOS honoring the new US Ambassador to Slovakia, Vincent Obsitnik, and his wife Annemarie. Amb. Obsitnik had been sworn in by Deputy Secretary of State Negroponte on November 9 and was preparing to travel to Slovakia in early December.

Amb. Kacer and members of the FOS Board wished the Obsitniks all the best in the Bratislava assignment. On behalf of FOS, Board of Directors member Scott Salmon presented the new ambassador with a small bronze replica of the Iwo Jima Monument in Washington. Amb. Obsitnik then recounted the story of Bronze Star winner SGT Michael Strank who took part in the famous raising of the American flag on Mt. Suribachi. SGT Strank, of Slovak ancestry, was one of the three Marines among the six men who raised the large flag in the famous photograph who was killed in action later in the Iwo Jima campaign. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Amb. Obsitnik said he would proudly display the statue in the embassy.