LAS VEGAS (KLAS) World War II veteran Onofrio “No-No” Zicari, the last-known D-Day vet in Las Vegas, has died at 102, according to the City of Las Vegas.

Storming Omaha Beach in Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944, was a memory he didn’t like to discuss.

“It was a war, period,” Zicari said. “I don’t like to talk about it, but I’m here.”

Those were his words when 8 News Now spoke with him last year as he prepared to return to the site for the anniversary of D-Day.

Zicari was described as a national treasure, a link to a past when 21-year-old men and younger carried the weight of the world as they fought against Nazi Germany’s occupation of France. He was drafted at the age of 19.

In 2021, Zicari was awarded the Purple Heart for an injury he received as troops went ashore at Omaha Beach. He fought through the wound at the time, but the medal came seven decades later.

“During the landing, I caught a piece of shrapnel in my knee,” Zicari said. That could have been the end of his war, but he stuck with it despite an infection. The wound stayed off the books.

“I said, nah, I’ll stay with my outfit,” Zicari said. He continued on, fighting at the Battle of the Bulge.

And while he avoided other details “I was just a foot soldier, that’s all” he had a wall of photos at home, and named his fellow soldiers as he pointed them out in the pictures.

The City of Las Vegas posted this statement on social media Friday: “We mourn the passing of 102-year-old Onofrio “No-No” Zicari, a local man who was a veteran of the D-Day invasion in World War II and a Purple Heart recipient. One of the last of the Greatest Generation, No-No leaves a proud legacy of protecting our nation and our freedoms.”

In late 2021, Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman and an Army representative presented Zicari with the Purple Heart and also named him October’s Citizen of the Month.

The father of six said it was his children who pushed him to pursue the medal. “They felt like I deserved it,” he told 8 News Now in an interview.

He recounted his past as a first-generation American, working as a shoemaker and then as a milkman. Woodworking became a hobby when he moved his family to Las Vegas, and he continued with it at least into his late 90s.

“I kept at it. Kept me out of the casinos,” he said.

Zicari told 8 News Now he had brothers in the Air Force and the Navy.

In a social media post on X, Las Vegas City Councilwoman Francis Allen-Palenske, said, “I am heartbroken to share that my dear friend, Private First Class Onofrio “No No” Zicari, has passed away. Earlier this year I was lucky enough to celebrate him when he received France’s highest honor for his bravery on D-Day. To me, he was more than a hero. He was a friend.”