Wikipedia:Today's featured article/March 12, 2009



Lazare Ponticelli (1897–2008) was the longest-surviving officially recognized veteran of the First World War from France and the last poilu of its trenches to die. Born in Italy, he moved to France in 1906, and lied about his age to join the French Army in 1914. Italy entered the War in 1915, and subsequently Ponticelli was transferred to its army when authorities discovered his true ancestry. After the War, 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 2009 is still in business. Ponticelli was the oldest living man of Italian birth and the oldest man living in France. Every Armistice Day until 2007, he attended ceremonies honoring deceased veterans. In his later years, he criticized war and stored his bravery 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 for the emphasis of the procession to be on the common soldiers who died on the battlefield. (more...)

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