WWII veteran who witnessed flag-raising at Iwo Jima dies on way to D-Day commemoration in France

A World War II US Navy veteran who witnessed the raising of the United States flag at Iwo Jima has died on the way to a D-Day commemoration event in France.

Robert Persichitti, 102, passed away on Friday after being airlifted to a hospital in Germany while en route to Normandy to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day Allied invasion that is being held on Thursday.

The veteran, who lived in Fairport, New York, was traveling with the National World War II Museum group to attend the memorial celebrations and was on a sailing ship down the coast of Normandy when he had to be airlifted after suffering a ‘medical emergency’, WHEC said.

"It was a privilege to know him, and I will miss him. He had a real zest for living," local pastor William Leone, who was friends with the veteran for 46 years, told 13WHAM. 

"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."

His friend and travel companion, Al DeCarlo, told the outlet that in his final moments, the doctor played his favorite singer, Frank Sinatra, and he “peacefully left us.”

"The doctor was with him. He was not alone, he was at peace and he was comfortable," DeCarlo said.

He also shared that Persichitti loved to talk to fellow veterans about their experiences of events that happened around 80 years ago.

"He was a radio man on a communications ship off the coast of Iwo Jima and Okinawa," DeCarlo said. "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.”

Persichitti had also spoken to local media himself in the past about his time with the Navy.

The veteran said he had witnessed the raising of the United States flag at the end of the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945, an event that has forever been memorialized in one of the country’s most famous military photographs.

“I was the radio operator aboard the ship, and we were offshore a little ways, and when they raised that flag, I was on deck that day, and watched them raise that flag twice,” Persichitti told WXXI only last month.

The day before Persichitti was due to set off on his journey to the memorial event in Europe, which is also slated to be attended by many of the remaining World War II veterans, he told WROC that he was “really excited to be going.”

The veteran previously told WDSU that he remembers those he served with every Friday, not just on commemorative days like Veterans Day.

"When I was in Okinawa, we had two kamikazes come in on us. We knocked one of them down, but the other one, I thought they were going to get us, they went over top of us ... we had 150 casualties," he said.

"I wear a red sleeveless T-shirt ... Every Friday, I put that red on, to represent all the blood that was lost during World War II," he added.

In 2020, then-New York State Senator Rich Funke named Persichitti as an honoree in the Veterans Hall of Fame. He has also written Bob’s Book: Building an American Life and An American Life Well-Lived, which provides further insight into the veteran’s extraordinary life.