102-Year-Old WWII Vet Passes Away En Route To D-Day Event In France

A 102-year-old American veteran who saw his compatriots raise the flag over Iwo Jima passed away en route to a ceremony in France recognizing the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

Robert “Al” Persichitti, of Fairport, New York served as a radio man aboard the USS Eldorado, later going on to see the flag-raising on the Japanese island in 1944, captured in an iconic photograph by Joe Rosenthal which later won the Pulitzer Prize. Perischitti fell ill while traveling, according to People Magazine, and died on Friday, May 31st.

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The veteran’s trips were financially supported by Richard Stewart, CEO of Honor Flight Rochester, who honored his longtime passenger in a statement to other outlets. “Bob flew on Honor Flight Rochester Mission #29 in June 2013 to the memorials in Washington, D.C. He was a great friend to all of us since our hub’s founding in 2008 and a very active participant in our many activities and events,” he said. “In particular, Bob welcomed home at the Rochester Airport each returning mission filled with our aging heroes. Bob will be sorely missed.”

As previously reported, Perischitti and friend Al DeCarlo were in the middle of a trip with the National World War II Museum Group when he suffered a medical emergency off the court of Normandy Beach. He was eventually airlifted to a hospital, WHEC reported.

“He died peacefully, and he did not die alone… The doctor was with him. … He was comfortable.”” Stewart told the New York Times. “He was fit and upright and got around, and had the complete faculties of someone who would be decades younger. He was really something.”

“She put his favorite singer, Frank Sinatra, on her phone and he peacefully left us,” DeCarlo continued, adding that Perschitti got a few private moments with fellow WWII veterans before passing away.

Pastor William Leone of New York, who counted Perichitti among his clergy for more than 46 years, echoed that sentiment. “It was a privilege to know him, and I will miss him. He had a real zest for living,” Leone told New York station WHAM. “He would go visit children in the grammar schools in the area, talk with them about his experiences growing up, his experiences during the Second World War.”

“He was a radio man on a communications ship off the coast of Iwo Jima and Okinawa,” DeCarlo said, per WHAM. “He met another radio man, I think he was from the Army, and they were chatting about things from 80 years ago. It was amazing to watch.

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