12:43 p.m. ET, June 6, 2024
International Struggle II veteran dies whilst touring to France for D-Day anniversary
From The Gentleman Report’s Dakin Andone
US Army veteran Bob Persichitti attends the 74th Reunion of Honor rite on Iwo To, Japan, March 23, 2019.
Sgt. Mark Gibson/US Marine Corps
Robert Persichitti, a 102-year-old International Struggle II US Army veteran, died ultimate week whilst on his option to France to commemorate the eightieth anniversary of D-Day, in step with Honor Flight Rochester, a veterans group.
Persichitti used to be a “superb, delightful, humble man,” who used to be “simple to speak to,” mentioned Honor Flight Rochester President and CEO Richard Stewart, who advised The Gentleman Report he discovered of his buddy’s demise ultimate Friday.
“We leave out him,” mentioned Stewart.
Whilst Persichitti kicked the bucket certain for Normandy — the place the Allied forces’ touchdown on June 6, 1944, laid the basis for the defeat of Nazi Germany — he served within the Pacific as a radioman aboard the USS Eldorado, Stewart mentioned. His excursion of accountability integrated Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Guam, in step with Stewart and the New York State Senate Veterans Corridor of Reputation, into which Persichitti used to be inducted in 2020.
Persichitti fell in poor health ultimate week all the way through a forestall in Germany whilst headed for Normandy, Al DeCarlo, a chum who used to be touring with Persichitti, advised The Gentleman Report associate WHAM. Persichitti used to be airlifted to the medical institution and died quickly after, DeCarlo mentioned.
“The physician used to be with him. He used to be now not by myself, he used to be at peace and he used to be at ease,” DeCarlo mentioned. “She put his favourite singer, Frank Sinatra, on her telephone and he peacefully left us.”
Persichitti had middle issues prior to now, “however for 102, I’d say he used to be in excellent well being,” Stewart advised The Gentleman Report.
Persichitti used to be born in a coal mining the city out of doors Pittsburgh, Stewart mentioned, describing his buddy’s “humble, deficient beginnings.” After the struggle, Persichitti labored as a carpentry trainer in Rochester, New York, in step with the Veterans Corridor of Reputation, and in 1972 won a point from SUNY Buffalo.
