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Lazare Ponticelli | |
---|---|
Born | [a] Bettola, Kingdom of Italy | 24 December 1897
Died | (aged 110 years, 79 days) Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, France | 12 March 2008
Allegiance | France (1914–1915) Italy (1915–1920) |
Service | French Army Italian Army French Resistance |
Years of service | 1914–1920 |
Battles / wars | World War I World War II |
Awards | Croix de Guerre Médaille Interalliée Légion d'honneur Ordine di Vittorio Veneto [2] |
Other work | Piping and metal work |
Lazare Ponticelli (born Lazzaro Ponticelli; 24 December 1897, later mistranscribed as 7 December – 12 March 2008), Knight of Vittorio Veneto, was at 110, the last surviving officially recognized veteran of the First World War from France and the last poilu of its trenches to die. [b]
Born in Italy, he travelled on his own to France at the age of eight. Aged 16, he lied about his age in order to join the French Army at the start of the war in 1914, before being transferred against his will to the Italian Army the following year. After the war, he came back to Paris where he and his brothers founded the piping and metal work company Ponticelli Frères (Ponticelli Brothers), which produced supplies for the Second World War effort and as of August 2024, is still in business. He also worked with the French Resistance against the Nazis.
Ponticelli was the oldest living man of Italian birth and the oldest man living in France at the time of his death. Every Armistice Day until 2007 he attended ceremonies honoring deceased veterans. In his later years, he criticized war, and stored his awards from the First World War in a shoe box. While he felt unworthy of the state funeral the French government offered him, he eventually accepted one. However, he asked that the procession emphasise the common soldiers who died on the battlefield. French president Nicolas Sarkozy honored his wish and dedicated a plaque to them at the procession.
Born as Lazzaro Ponticelli in Cordani, a frazione (civil parish) in Bettola, Piacenza, Emilia-Romagna, in northern Italy, [4] he was raised in a mountain hamlet in Bettola, one of seven children born to Jean Ponticelli and Philomène Cordani. His father sold livestock on the fairgrounds and occasionally worked as a carpenter and cobbler. [5]
His mother cultivated the family's small plot of land and, like many women of the area, commuted three times a year to the Po Valley to work in its rice fields. [4] Despite the Ponticelli family's hard work, they were impoverished and the children often went to bed on an empty stomach. [6] When Lazare was two years of age, his mother moved to France to earn a better living. After the unexpected deaths of Jean Ponticelli and his eldest son, Pierre, the rest of the family moved to Paris, leaving Lazare in the care of neighbors. [5]
At age six, Ponticelli started several jobs, including making clogs. [7] By 1906, aged eight years old, he had saved enough money to buy a railway ticket to Paris, which he considered "paradise." [4] [5] [7] To travel to the capital of France, he walked 21 miles (34 km) to the nearest train station at Piacenza. [8] He could not speak French, but found work as a chimney sweep in Nogent-sur-Marne and later as a paper boy in Paris. [4] [9] [10] He obtained a work permit at age 13. [5]
In August 1914, aged 16, shortly after the outbreak of World War I, Ponticelli was assigned to the 4th Marching Regiment of the 1st Foreign Regiment of the French Foreign Legion. He had lied about his age to enlist. He rediscovered his older brother, Céleste Ponticelli, who had joined the same regiment. [4] [9] According to Ponticelli, France had done much for him, and serving was his way of showing his gratitude. [5] He served at Soissons in Picardy, northeast France, and at Douaumont, near Verdun. [11] Ponticelli worked at digging burial pits and trenches. [12] In keeping a promise to Céleste to always assist others, he rescued a German and a French soldier who were wounded in the arm and leg, respectively. [13]
Ponticelli was not a French citizen and in May 1915, when Italy entered the war, he was conscripted into the Italian Army. Although he attempted to remain with his French regiment, he eventually enlisted in the 3rd Alpini Regiment, after being escorted to Turin by two gendarmes. [5] Ponticelli saw service against the Austro-Hungarian Army at Mount Piccolo on the Austria–Italy border. [13]
At his new post as a machine gunner, Ponticelli was seriously wounded by a shell during an assault on an Austrian mountain position. He was returned to his post after rest and recuperation in Naples. [4] In an undated interview, he described being injured: "Blood was running into my eyes... I continued firing despite my wound." [10]
Once, his regiment ceased fighting the Austrians for three weeks. The armies, who mostly spoke each other's tongue, swapped loaves of bread for tobacco and photographed each other. [14] In 1918 Ponticelli was gassed in an Austrian attack that killed hundreds of his fellow soldiers. [4] Reflecting on war, he said: "You shoot at men who are fathers. War is completely stupid." [2] [14] In one of his last interviews, Ponticelli stated he was amazed at his own survival. [15]
After being demobilized in 1920, Ponticelli founded a metal work company with Céleste and Bonfils, his older brothers, which they called "Ponticelli Frères" ("Ponticelli Brothers"). [5] Located in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, it became profitable and well known in its field. [4] It was incorporated as a private limited company in 1932, when its primary work was with industrial chimneys. [16]
During the Second World War, the Ponticelli brothers, who became French citizens in 1939, were too old for combat but supported the war effort by supplying soldiers with their products. [4] [5] They moved the factory into the Zone libre (unoccupied zone) after Germany invaded and occupied northern France. After Vichy France was taken over by the Germans, they returned northwards and began working with the Resistance. [4] In the aftermath of World War II, they added a piping department to their company. [16]
Lazare continued managing the company with his brothers until his retirement in 1960. [4] At the time of his death it was reported that the company had 4,000 employees [2] and its annual revenue (2005) was €300 million (more than €1 billion in 2023). The company now operates in several countries outside France, mainly across Europe and Africa. [17]
Until his death, Ponticelli lived with his daughter in the Paris suburb of Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, and every 11 November until 2007 he attended Armistice Day ceremonies. [4] [9] An honored citizen of his adopted town, Ponticelli voted in the 2007 presidential and legislative elections. [5] He officially became a supercentenarian on 24 December 2007, celebrating his official 110th birthday at the National History of Immigration Museum. [18] He kept his war medals in a shoebox. [2]
When originally offered a state funeral by then French President Jacques Chirac, Ponticelli asserted that he did not want one, although the death of the penultimate recognized soldier, [b] Louis de Cazenave, on 20 January 2008 [19] caused him to reconsider. [10] He eventually accepted a small ceremony "in the name of all those who died, men and women," [10] during World War I. [9]
Today, I express the nation's deep emotion and infinite sadness. I salute the Italian boy who came to Paris to earn his living and chose to become French, first in August 1914 when he lied about his age to sign up at 16 for the French Foreign Legion to defend his adopted homeland. Then a second time in 1921, when he decided to remain here for good.
— Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France [9]
Ponticelli died at 12:45 pm (11:45 GMT) at his home in Le Kremlin-Bicêtre on 12 March 2008, aged 110. [12] At the time of his death, Ponticelli was the oldest living man of Italian birth and the oldest man living in France. [20] Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, released a statement and said there would be a day of national remembrance for the war dead of France. [9] Ponticelli had at least one child, his then-78-year-old daughter, Janine Desbaucheron. [2] [5]
His state funeral was held on 17 March 2008. The mass was held at Saint-Louis Cathedral in Les Invalides and was attended by government ministers, soldiers and members of Ponticelli's family. [21] French academic Max Gallo delivered the eulogy. [22] At the mass, French collégien Guillaume Kaleff read a poem written by his class in Ponticelli's honor. [23]
Flags were ordered to be flown at half mast while Sarkozy unveiled a plaque dedicated to the veterans of World War I. [15] Legionnaires of the 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment, heir to the Marching Regiment of the French Foreign Legion, the same regiment that Ponticelli fought in, carried his coffin at the funeral. [21] After the procession, he was buried in his family's plot at Ivry Cemetery, Ivry-sur-Seine. [24]
On 11 November 2008, during the first Armistice Day since his death, Rue de Verdun in Le Kremlin-Bicêtre was renamed Rue de Verdun-Lazare-Ponticelli. [25]
Poilu is an informal term for a late 18th century–early 20th century French infantryman, meaning, literally, the hairy one. It is still widely used as a term of endearment for the French infantry of World War I. The word carries the sense of the infantryman's typically rustic, agricultural background, and derives from the bushy moustaches and other facial hair affected by many French soldiers after the outbreak of the war as a sign of masculinity. The poilu was particularly known for his love of pinard, his ration of cheap wine.
Henry John Patch, dubbed in his later years "the Last Fighting Tommy", was an English supercentenarian, briefly the oldest man in Europe, and the world's last surviving trench combat soldier of the First World War. Patch was not the longest-surviving soldier of the First World War, but he was the fifth-longest-surviving veteran of any sort from the First World War, behind British veterans Claude Choules and Florence Green, Frank Buckles of the United States and John Babcock of Canada. At the time of his death, aged 111 years and 38 days, Patch was the third-oldest man in the world, behind Walter Breuning and Jiroemon Kimura.
Raymond Abescat was one of the last surviving veterans of World War I in France, its oldest living man and its oldest living veteran when he died aged 109 years, 349 days.
Maurice Noël Floquet was, aged 111 and 320 days, France's former oldest man on record and was one of the last surviving French veterans of World War I. He is also France's longest-lived soldier of all time.
Le Kremlin-Bicêtre is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is 4.5 km (2.8 mi) from the center of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe.
Bettola is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Piacenza in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about 140 kilometres (87 mi) west of Bologna and about 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of Piacenza.
Louis de Cazenave was, at the time of his death, the oldest surviving French veteran of World War I.
Frank Woodruff Buckles was a United States Army corporal and the last surviving American military veteran of World War I. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1917 aged 16 and served with a detachment from Fort Riley, driving ambulances and motorcycles near the front lines in Europe.
Delfino Edmondo Borroni, Knight of Vittorio Veneto, was, at age 110, Italy's oldest man, and the eleventh-oldest verified man in the world.
This article lists events from the year 2008 in France.
Ramire Rosan was the last World War I veteran from the overseas departments and territories of France. Grandson of a slave, he was born in Morne-à-l'Eau, Guadeloupe, where he cultivated sugar cane. Mounted gendarmes came to pick him up and sent him immediately to a base, he was enlisted to the twenty-third regiment of the colonial infantry. In July 1916 he took part in the Battle of the Somme, where he was gassed.
Events from the year 1897 in France.
Fernand Goux was, at age 108, the penultimate French World War I veteran, with Pierre Picault being the last.
This is an incomplete list of the last surviving European veterans of several wars. The last surviving veteran of any particular war, upon his death, marks the end of a historic era. Exactly who is the last surviving veteran is often an issue of contention, especially with records from wars which happened long ago. The "last man standing" was often very young at the time of enlistment and in many cases had lied about his age to gain entry into the service, which confuses matters further.
Augustin-Joseph Victorin Trébuchon was the last French soldier killed during World War I. He was shot 15 minutes before the Armistice came into effect, at 10:45 am on 11 November 1918. The French Army, embarrassed to have sent men into battle after the armistice with the Germans had been signed, recorded the date of his death as earlier by one day.
Cyrillus-Camillus Barbary was the last known Belgian veteran of the First World War. He was born in Klerken in West Flanders. He served on the Western Front in the 2nd Regiment of the Line for the last months of the war, between May 1918 and January 1919. Barbary worked as a mason and emigrated to the United States with his wife Emma in 1923. The couple had three children. He visited Belgium for the last time in 1997.
Paul Ooghe was a Belgian soldier who, and at the time of his death, was incorrectly believed to be the last surviving Belgian soldier to have seen combat in World War I. The actual last surviving veteran, Cyrillus-Camillus Barbary, who had emigrated to the United States, died in 2004.
The Garibaldi Legion or officially the 4th Marching Regiment of the 1st Foreign Regiment was a unit of the Foreign Legion in the French Army which formed the Marching Regiment of the Foreign Legion composed entirely of Italian citizens, who fought in France in World War I against the Germans and existing ephemerally from the end of 1914 to 1915. After having distinguished themselves at Argonne in December 1914, the regiment was finally dissolved on May 5, 1915, due to Italy's entry in the war and the departure of the majority of the regiment back to their country of origin.
Hubert Germain was a French politician who was a member of the French Resistance during World War II. He was the last living Companion of the Order of Liberation.
Notes
"C'est grâce à vous, à tous les Poilus que nous vivons aujourd'hui dans un pays libre. Merci" a dit Guillaume, un élève de cinquième, dans un poème lu en fin de cérémonie.
Sources
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