A 102-year-old World War II veteran dies en route to D-Day commemorations in Europe and is mourned
The IndependentFor free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A World War II Navy veteran was being mourned Thursday following his death while en route to France to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day, a trip friends said he'd talked excitedly about making. “He’s been to most of the World War II remembrances down in Washington and Louisiana, and he wanted to get to the D-Day remembrance ceremony, too," Leone, pastor of the Church of Saint Jerome in East Rochester, where Persichitti attended Mass every week, said by phone. The National WWII Museum in New Orleans called Persichitti a “longtime friend.” After enlisting in the U.S. Navy in 1942, Persichitti was assigned as a radioman to the USS Eldorado and in 1944 sailed to the Pacific where he took part in the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, according to the museum.