Wounded soldier survived to set records for longevity
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| Lazzaro Ponticelli as a young soldier in the First World War |
Before his death at the age of 110 years and 79 days,
Ponticelli was the last surviving officially recognised veteran of the First
World War from France and the last infantry man from its trenches to die.
He had moved to France at the age of eight to join his
family who had gone there to find work. At the age of 16, he lied about his age
to join the French army in 1914.
Ponticelli was transferred against his will to the Italian
army when Italy entered the war the following year. He enlisted in the 3rd
Alpini regiment and saw service against the Austro-Hungarian army at Mount Pal
Piccolo on the Italian border with Austria.
At one stage he was wounded by a shell but continued firing
his machine gun although blood was running into his eyes.
He spoke of a period when fighting ceased for three weeks
and the two armies swapped loaves of bread for tobacco and took photographs of
each other, as many of them could speak each other's language.
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| The Ponticelli Brothers' headquarters in a Paris suburb |
They produced supplies for the war effort during the First World War and Ponticelli also worked with the French Resistance against the Nazis. He
managed the company until his retirement in 1960.
Every Armistice Day until 2007 Ponticelli attended
ceremonies honouring deceased veterans. But in his later years he also
criticised war.
He said he felt unworthy of the state funeral the French
Government offered him, but eventually accepted it. He asked for the occasion
to focus on the many ordinary soldiers who died on the battlefield.
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| Ponticelli pictured in 2007, aged 109 |
French president Nicolas Sarkozy honoured Ponticelli’s wish
and dedicated a plaque to the soldiers who had been killed in battle during the
super centurion’s funeral.
On the first Armistice Day after his death, the street where
he had lived was renamed Rue de Verdun-Lazare-Ponticelli in his honour.
Travel tip:
Lazzaro Ponticelli was born in Cordani, a frazione - the Italian equivalent of a ward or parish - of
Bettola in the province of Piacenza in Emilia-Romagna. It is claimed that the
explorer Christopher Columbus was born in the nearby frazione of Pradello and
the main square of Bettola is named Piazza Colombo.
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| Remains still exist of military positions built on Mount Pal Piccolo during the First World War |
During the First World War, Lazzaro Ponticelli fought in a series of
furious battles against the Austro-Hungarian army at Mount Pal Piccolo in the
region of Udine. An open air museum has been created on Mount Pal Piccolo where
you can visit Italian and Austro-Hungarian military installations. For more
information visit www.itinerarigrandeguerra.com.
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