An American Navy veteran who was there when U.S. troops raised the flag on Iwo Jima in 1945 has died while en route to France to make Thursday's 80th anniversary of D-Day.Robert 'Al' Persichitti from Rochester, New York, was 102 years old. He passed away in a German hospital on May 31 after being airlifted from a ship sailing to Europe, according to his veteran organization, Honor Flight.
Persichitti served as a radioman second class on the USS Eldorado, responsible for communications during the operations at Iwo Jima and Okinawa. He was on the deck of the USS Eldorado on February 23, 1945, when he witnessed the raising of the American flag by U.S. Marines on Mount Suribachi, an event immortalized by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal.After the war, Persichitti became a carpentry teacher in Rochester and frequently visited local schools to share his wartime experiences.