A 102-year-old World War II veteran dies en route to D-Day commemorations in Europe and is mourned
By CAROLYN THOMPSON
Associated Press
A Navy veteran of World War II is being mourned after his death en route to France to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day. Friends say Robert “Al” Persichitti of Fairport, New York, fell ill on a stop in Germany last week and died in a hospital. He was 102. A longtime friend, the Rev. William Leone, says Persichitti had been to other World War II remembrances before and was excited about the latest trip. Persichitti enlisted in the Navy in 1942 and later sailed on the USS Eldorado to the Pacific, taking part in the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
