12:43 PM ET, June 6, 2024
The World War II veteran died while visiting France for the D-Day anniversary
From CNN’s Dakin Andone
U.S. Navy SEAL Bob Persicity attends the 74th Honorary Reunion in Iwo Do, Japan, March 23, 2019.
Sergeant Mark Gibson/US Marine Corps
Robert Persiciti, 102, a World War II U.S. Navy veteran, died last week while visiting France for a memorial service. 80th Anniversary of D-DayAccording to Honor Flight Rochester, a veterans organization.
Persicity was a “wonderful, sweet, humble guy” who was “easy to talk to,” said Richard Stewart, president and CEO of Honor Flight Rochester, who told CNN he learned of his friend’s death last Friday.
“We miss him,” Stewart said.
When Bersichetti went to Normandy – Allied forces Landed on June 6, 1944, laid the groundwork for the defeat of Nazi Germany — he served in the Pacific as a radioman aboard the USS Eldorado, Stewart said. According to Stewart, his tour of duty included Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and Guam New York State Senate Veterans Hall of FameIn which Persicity was absorbed in 2020.
Friend Al DiCarlo, who traveled with Persichetti, said Persichetti fell ill last week during a stopover on his way to Normandy, Germany. CNN affiliate WHAM. Persichetti was airlifted to a hospital and died a short time later, DiCarlo said.
“The doctor was with him. He wasn’t alone, he was relaxed and comfortable,” DiCarlo said. “He put his favorite singer, Frank Sinatra, on his phone and he left us peacefully.”
Persicity has had heart problems in the past, “but for 102, I’d say he’s in excellent health,” Stewart told CNN.
Persichetti was born in a coal-mining town outside of Pittsburgh, and Stewart described his friend’s “humble, rough beginnings.” After the war, Persichetti worked as a carpentry teacher in Rochester, New York, graduating from SUNY Buffalo in 1972, according to the Veterans Hall of Fame.
