Lazare Ponticelli

Lazare Ponticelli
Lazare Ponticelli (center) between two reenactment members in old uniforms in 2006
Allegiance	France (1914-1915) Italy (1915-1918)
Service/branch	French Army Italian Army
Years of service	1914–1918
Battles/wars	World War I
Awards	Croix de Guerre Médaille Interalliée Légion d'honneur Order of Vittorio Veneto
Other work	Piping and metal work

Lazare Ponticelli (December 7 or 24, 1897^[a] – March 12, 2008) was the last official French veteran of the First World War and poilu, or foot soldier, of its trenches.^[b] Born in Italy, he moved to France at age nine and lied about his age to join the French Army in 1914. Upon the entry of Italy into the First World War in 1915, however, Ponticelli was transferred to its army when authorities discovered his true ancestry. After World War I, he and his brothers founded the piping and metal work company "Ponticelli Frères" ("Ponticelli Brothers"), which assisted with the Second World War effort and is still in existence.

At the time of his death, Ponticelli was both the oldest living man born in Italy and the oldest man living in France. In his later years, he was critical of war in general and kept his war awards in a shoe box. While he felt unworthy of the state funeral the French government offered him, he eventually accepted one, although he asked for the emphasis of the procession to be on the common soldier that died on the battlefield.

Early life

Ponticelli was born "Lazzaro" in Groppo Ducale, a civil parish in the small town of Bettola, Piacenza province, in northern Italy. Raised in the mountain village of Cordiani, he was one of seven children born to Jean and Philomena Ponticelli. His father worked the fairgrounds and occasionally as a carpenter and cobbler. 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. When Lazare was two, his mother moved to France to try to earn a better living. After the unexpected death of their father and his eldest son, Peter, the rest of the family moved to Paris, leaving Lazare in the care of his neighbors.

At the age of six, Ponticelli started working several jobs, including making clogs. In 1906, at age nine, he saved enough money to buy a train ticket to Paris, which he considered "paradise". Although he spoke no French, he found work as a chimney sweep in Nogent-sur-Marne and later as a paper boy in Paris.

World War I

In August 1914, when he was 16, he lied about his age to join the 1^st Régiment de Marche of the French Foreign Legion, where his older brother Céleste was already serving. According to Ponticelli, France had done much for him, and serving was his way of showing his gratitude. He served at Soissons in Picardy, northeast France and at Douaumont, near Verdun. Ponticelli worked at digging burial pits and trenches. On one occasion he reportedly rescued a German and a French soldier who had been wounded and caught on the front lines.

With the entry of Italy into the First World War in 1915, Ponticelli was told he had to join the Italian Army and was discharged. At first refusing to leave, Ponticelli was escorted by two gendarmes to Torino, where he joined a regiment of Alpini for service against the Austrians. At his new post as a machine gunner, Ponticelli was seriously wounded by a shell during an assault on an Austrian mountain position. He described the event in an undated interview as "blood running through [his] eyes", but he "continued firing despite [his] wound."

After undergoing surgery, Ponticelli travelled back to his post. His regiment once stopped firing for three weeks on the Austrians, whose language many of them spoke, and swapped loaves of bread for tobacco, taking pictures of each other. In 1918 he was gassed in an Austrian chemical weapon attack that killed hundreds of his fellow soldiers. Reflecting on war, he said: "You shoot at men who are fathers. War is completely stupid." and once questioned why he, or his regiment, had ever been fighting. In one of his last interviews, Ponticelli stated he was amazed at his own survival.

Work with Ponticelli Frères

The "Ponticelli Brothers"

After being demobilised in 1920, Lazare founded a piping and metal work company with his brothers called "Ponticelli Frères" ("Ponticelli Brothers"). Located in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, it became profitable and well-known in its field, and still exists today. At the time of his death it was reported that the company had 4,000 employees.

During the Second World War Ponticelli, who became a French citizen in 1939, was too old for combat, although he supported the war effort by supplying soldiers with his products. He moved his factory into an unoccupied zone when Germany invaded and occupied France. After Vichy France was taken over, he returned northwards and began working with the resistance. Ponticelli continued managing the company until his retirement in 1960.

Later life

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

Until his death Ponticelli lived with his daughter in Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, France and every November 11 until 2007 attended Armistice Day ceremonies. A recipient of several awards, Ponticelli knew it was his age that gave him the medals and kept them in a shoe box. When originally offered a state funeral by then French President Jacques Chirac, he asserted that he did not want one, although the death of the penultimate recognized soldier,^[b] Louis de Cazenave, on January 20, 2008 caused him to reconsider. He eventually accepted a small ceremony "in the name of all those who died, men and women", during World War I.

Ponticelli died at 12:45 PM (11:45 GMT) at his home in Le Kremlin-Bicêtre on March 12, 2008, aged 110. At the time of his death, Ponticelli was both the oldest man living born in Italy and the oldest man living in France. Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, released a statement and said there would be a day of national remembrance for the war dead of France. Ponticelli was survived by at least a daughter, then-78-year-old Janine Desbaucheron.

His state funeral was held on March 17, 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. French Academic Max Gallo delivered the eulogy. Flags were ordered to be flown at half mast while Sarkozy unveiled a plaque dedicated to the veterans of World War I. The French Foreign Legion, the same regiment that Ponticelli fought in, carried his coffin at the funeral. After the procession he was buried in a family plot in Paris.

See also

• Last surviving World War I veteran by country
• Veterans of the First World War who died in 2008

Bibliography

• Ponticelli, Lazare (2005). Ponticelli Frères : les premières années : trois frères, une entreprise. Le Kremlin-Bicêtre. pp. 177 p. with 12 p. of illustrations. ISBN 2-9525364-0-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

Notes

• [a] ^ Ponticelli's date of birth is not known with certainty. Officially, it is December 7, 1897, although this is likely a mistake. Most probably, it was recorded as December 27, 1897 in the civil registry and the 2 was erased. Ponticelli's mother remembered giving birth on December 24 and a snowstorm delayed any exit from the house for three days.
• [b] ^ In June 2008, three months after Ponticelli's death, Fernand Goux was discovered to be a French veteran. However, Goux was not officially recognised as a poilu, even though he was called up for service on April 19, since he was only in the trenches from November 3, 1918 to the signing of the armistice on November 11, 1918.

External links

• Template:Find A Grave
• Ponticelli Frères official website
• Biography and pictures Template:Fr icon