Veteran, 102 years old, who fought in World War II, dies: he was on his way to the ‘D-Day’ commemoration

According to a veterans organization, Persichitti andHe was a Navy veteran. However, he died while traveling to France to participate in the D-Day commemoration ceremony.

Persichitti was one of the few veterans of his generation who still attended these celebrations. According to WHEC News 10, the former Marine traveled abroad with a group linked to the National World War II Museum and accompanied by Al DeCarlo.

Persichitti was on the deck of the Eldorado when he witnessed the raising an American flag on the summit of Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima on February 23, 1945. This event was captured in one of the most famous photos in American history, a moment that Persichitti recorded in his diary.

“I served in the Pacific for 15 months on board a ship,” Persichitti declared in a 2022 interview with WDSU, an NBC affiliate in New Orleans. He said he helped handle “all communications for both operations: Iwo Jima and Okinawa.”
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Persichitti He was a Rochester public school teacher. Long after his retirement, he continued to visit classrooms to share stories from World War II.

Persichitti had a history of heart problems. In an interview with WROC-TV, a CBS affiliate in Rochester, made the day before his departure for Europe, mentioned that his cardiologist had encouraged him to make the trip.

“I’m very excited to leave,” he said.

In the United Kingdom, Charles III asked to remember “courage and bravery” of those who participated in ‘D-Day’ and expressed his “eternal gratitude” to those who died for the liberation of Europe.

On the other hand, Joe Biden also expressed his respect for the former military: “They came here knowing that they could die. Freedom and democracy deserve it. “D-Day served to demonstrate the unbreakable unity of the Allies.”
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​Other presidents who participated were: the presidents of Italy, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic; the heads of Government of Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Luxembourg, and the kings of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium and the Grand Duke of Luxembourg.