Current:Home > InvestA 102-year-old World War II veteran dies en route to D-Day commemorations in Europe and is mourned -OceanicInvest
A 102-year-old World War II veteran dies en route to D-Day commemorations in Europe and is mourned
View
Date:2025-04-15 07:26:04
A World War II Navy veteran was being mourned Thursday following his death while en route to France to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day, a trip friends said he’d talked excitedly about making.
Robert “Al” Persichitti of Fairport, New York fell ill during a stop in Germany last week and died in a hospital, his longtime priest and friend, the Rev. William Leone, said. Persichitti was 102.
80 YEARS SINCE THE D-DAY LANDINGS
- How the day unfolded: The Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France was unprecedented in scale and audacity, using the largest-ever armada of ships, troops, planes and vehicles to change the course of World War II.
- AP was there: On D-Day, The Associated Press had reporters, artists and photographers in the air, on the choppy waters of the English Channel, in London, and at departure ports and airfields to cover the Allied assault in Normandy.
- Highlights: Get a recap of AP’s coverage of memorials and vigils around the world, including a candle-lit vigil held at Bayeux War Cemetery, where 4,600 graves of World War II military victims will be illuminated. England’s King Charles III and U.S. President Joe Biden were among those who attended.
“He’s been to most of the World War II remembrances down in Washington and Louisiana, and he wanted to get to the D-Day remembrance ceremony, too,” Leone, pastor of the Church of Saint Jerome in East Rochester, where Persichitti attended Mass every week, said by phone. “But the Lord took him in Germany. He was on his way to France, but he didn’t make it.”
A friend who was traveling with Persichitti said a doctor was with him when he died on May 30. “She put his favorite singer, Frank Sinatra, on her phone and he peacefully left us,” Al DeCarlo told WHAM in Rochester.
The National WWII Museum in New Orleans called Persichitti a “longtime friend.”
After enlisting in the U.S. Navy in 1942, Persichitti was assigned as a radioman to the USS Eldorado and in 1944 sailed to the Pacific where he took part in the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, according to the museum. He was in the harbor at Iwo Jima to witness the raising of the U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi, and had returned there in 2019, just before his 97th birthday.
In an interview with WROC in Rochester before he left for Europe, Persichitti said he’d been in his cardiologist’s office when he learned about the trip.
“And he says, `Go!’” he recalled his doctor telling him.
“I’m really excited to be going,” he said.
A retired public school teacher, Persichitti regularly spoke about his wartime experiences in schools and community gatherings, Leone said. He also wrote an autobiography for his family in 2015.
Persichitti led the Pledge of Allegiance at this year’s Memorial Day remembrance in East Rochester.
“He wanted,” Leone said, “to keep the memory of the sacrifices that had been made alive.”
veryGood! (91)
Related
- Meet the volunteers risking their lives to deliver Christmas gifts to children in Haiti
- Andy Cohen Reveals the Vanderpump Rules Moment That Shocked Him Most
- Britney Spears Shares Update on Relationship With Mom Lynne After 3-Year Reunion
- OceanGate co-founder calls for optimism amid search for lost sub
- Could Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft reunite? Maybe in Pro Football Hall of Fame's 2026 class
- A woman in Ecuador was mistakenly declared dead. A doctor says these cases are rare
- Yes, the big news is Trump. Test your knowledge of everything else in NPR's news quiz
- A loved one's dementia will break your heart. Don't let it wreck your finances
- Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
- Céline Dion Cancels World Tour Amid Health Battle
Ranking
- The Louvre will be renovated and the 'Mona Lisa' will have her own room
- Why our allergies are getting worse —and what to do about it
- Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello Are So in Sync in New Twinning Photo
- Céline Dion Cancels World Tour Amid Health Battle
- Average rate on 30
- Bumblebee Decline Linked With Extreme Heat Waves
- CBS News poll: The politics of abortion access a year after Dobbs decision overturned Roe vs. Wade
- With Tactics Honed on Climate Change, Ken Cuccinelli Attracts New Controversy at Homeland Security
Recommendation
Opinion: Gianni Infantino, FIFA sell souls and 2034 World Cup for Saudi Arabia's billions
Department of Energy Program Aims to Bump Solar Costs Even Lower
Patrick Mahomes Calls Brother Jackson's Arrest a Personal Thing
Gun deaths hit their highest level ever in 2021, with 1 person dead every 11 minutes
Meet first time Grammy nominee Charley Crockett
A loved one's dementia will break your heart. Don't let it wreck your finances
Why Jana Kramer's Relationship With Coach Allan Russell Is Different From Her Past Ones
Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan says DeSantis' campaign one of the worst I've seen so far — The Takeout