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France's last First World War vet dies at 110

JAMES MACKENZIE

Reuters

Latest comment posted at 8:52 AM EDT 16/03/08

Lazare Ponticelli, who joined his adopted country's army as a 16-year-old at the outbreak of the war with Germany in 1914 ...Read the full article

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  1. Are We Having This Conversation ? from Toronto, Canada writes: I always get a little teary-eyed when I think how at a young age, many young men became involved in WW1 & WW2....I never knew him but Merci M.Ponticelli...you were a GRAND MAN!!!
  2. Kathleen Degelder from AberdeenUSA, Canada writes: Lest we Forget: May you rest in Peace.
  3. Carolyn Bongiorno from Glenham,NY, United States writes: This proud immigrant walked away from his poverty and contributed mightily to his adopted home. God bless and keep you, and thank you for your service.

    It was supposed to be "the war to end all wars."
  4. Popeye Dillon from North Vancouver, Canada writes: When you walk through any of the graveyards from Normandy to Gettysburg there is always a moment when you reflect on the age of the combatants. Many of them were merely boys. Then you wonder what they died for!
  5. steve allan from Welland, Ontario, Canada writes: It's hard to believe...the last poilus is gone. The last German soldier died in January. WWI truly belongs to the past now.

    RIP Lazare.
  6. Diane Schweik from EDMONTON, Canada writes: .

    There are still a few left in the UK.
  7. Tyler Williams from seattle, United States writes: Interesting.

    Dillon from North Vancouver writes: "When you walk through any of the graveyards in Normandy there is always a moment when you reflect on the age of the combatants, then you wonder what they died for."

    Well, speak for yourself, Dillon.

    When I walked through the sadness that is the graveyards of Normandy, I found it pretty easy to picture what a newly-named planet of "Nazi-land" would have been like, had the Allies not spilled blood to end it.

    They died to protect others from Hitler's cold and lethal intentions.
  8. Al B from Toronto, Canada writes: By 1944, the Nazis were already going down. The Russians were coming fast. By the end of that summer they were already in Poland. Normandy accelerated the fall of Germany it did not change the outcome.
  9. Tyler Williams from seattle, United States writes: Weird.

    Al from Toronto strangely writes: "By 1944, the Nazis were already going down, the Russians were coming fast, Normandy accelerated the fall of Germany it did not change the outcome".

    Hello?

    Does Al have a point to make that is actually pertinent to the discussion?

    So far he has not made one.

    Um, yes, Al from Toronto, the Allies consisted of multiple nations, and one can argue that key heavy lifting came from Russians much more than Brits much more than Yanks much more than Canucks much more than Aussies. Or Canucks then Aussies then Brits. Or Brits then Canucks then Yanks. Or whatever...

    Getting back to the topic, though, Al, how is your comment in any way pertinent to the obviously true fact that the Allied troops died to protect others from Hitler's cold and lethal intentions?

    Or did you have no pertinent point regarding the reason for dead Allied troops - instead, you just wanted to express that Allied nations did not all contribute equally to the effort?



  10. Al B from Toronto, Canada writes: You've got a chip on your shoulder
  11. Charles Smith from United Kingdom writes: Britains oldest WW1 vet recently turned 111!

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/core/Slideshow/slideshowContentFrameFragXL.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/06/old/oldpix.xml&site=arts
  12. leo bloom from radisson, sask, Canada writes: Al and Tyler are in the wrong wars....Normandy? Gettysburg? Maybe you two should read a little history of the Great War, then throw stones at each other on the playgound...grow up! Rest in peace M. Ponticelli.
  13. Tyler Williams from seattle, United States writes: Leo from Saskatchewan, grow up yourself: It is you who seems to have somehow misunderstood the clear text above, wherein Dillon from Vancouver brought up the topic of Normandy and I responded to his comment about Normandy.

  14. Jimmy K from Toronto, Canada writes: Did we ever agree on that state funerals thing for our last few remaining veterans? I remember some brouhaha over that about a year ago.
  15. leo bloom from radisson, sask, Canada writes: Tyler, this is an obituary - the tone of the article is solemn, eulogistic. I think Dillon was responding in that vein. You, however, have treid to make this some sort of quasi-political, pseudo-I'm-so-smart thread. Read your posts, tell me how 'clear' they are - see how you jostle to be top dawg on a convoluted forum, then tell me I should grow up. You should be ashamed.
  16. clar 989 from oshawa, Canada writes: Tyler Williams from Seattle - Wow, i think Popeye Dillon was also trying to get across about the whole idea of war in the first place being horrible and should in no way be a means to the ends. Also, you should really include the word "pertinent" more in your posts, only mentioned it a few times in your last one.

    Anyways, on to what i want to say, i'm visiting europe in april with my younger brother and making a point to visit vimy ridge, dieppe and normandy, I think it will be quite a moving experience for the both us, despite not having much family directly involved, it's still very important i feel. I don't think many people my age truly respect the magnitude of these wars and they must be remembered. could you imagine, 16 years old in trench warfare???
  17. Tyler Williams from seattle, United States writes: Interesting.

    Leo Bloom, your gall is absolutely astounding. Seriously, who do you think you are?

    There are family members of mine who I never got to know because they are buried in uniform in the graveyards there. One of them is wearing the Canadian uniform he was killed in battle in, slaughtered while he was engaged in trench warfare.

    So, Leo Bloom, tough cookies for misguided you, as I have absolutely no hesitation to use my freedom of speech to express my opinion when I read a post from some guy who somehow wonders what Canadian troops died for there, or a post from some guy who weirdly sees fit to trumpet and emphasize here the Russian troops' accomplishments as if wanting to take away from the accomplishments of the spilled blood of other Allied troops.

    It is bizarre, Leo Bloom, that you somehow misguidedly accuse ME of making this a "quasi-political" thread. Hello? Are you hallucinating, Leo Bloom? I merely responded to the politically-laden comments of two previous post writers.

    Incidentally, I am quite certain, thank you very much, that my killed relatives would be in no way displeased with my comments - and I really could not care less what your view of my comments is.
  18. the group of one from France writes: Did J Luft move to Seattle ?
  19. leo bloom from radisson, sask, Canada writes: Wow! You sure do ramble for somebody who 'could not care less.' But you go girl. You exercise your rights to be a jughead and when the time comes for a forum to discuss Canada's foreign policies or our history of 20th-century warfare, I'll gladly debate you - I understand it fully. So bone up. Oh, and for the record, I too have relatives buried in Europe from the 2nd war...
  20. Tyler Williams from seattle, United States writes: Interesting.

    Leo Bloom at 1:26 points his finger at others, preaching that comments here ought to be oh-so solemn and eulogistic in tone, preaching that this is certainly not the place to do shameful things like claiming "I'm so smart".

    Ah, well, but then later at 4:22, amusingly enough, that same Leo Bloom struts out here to proclaim how brilliant he is in foreign policy, and how very smart he is in history, and how extremely knowledgeable he is as a man who fully understands 20th century warfare.

    What a wretched heap of hypocritical, sociopathic narcissism!

    Incidentally, Leo Bloom appears to have somehow misunderstood the meaning of my comment where I said that "I really could not care less what your view of my comments is".

    You see, what that meant was that I could not care less what Leo Bloom's misguided view is about what is or is not shameful, or what his view is about what stultifying code of eulogistic conduct he pompously feels ought to govern the content of posts here. I seriously could not care less about his views there.

    Nonetheless, that does not mean that I might not be inclined on occasion to correctly point out instances in which Leo Bloom's arrogant-sounding gall goes beyond the pale, or to correctly identify specific instances in which the phrase "wretched heap of hypocritical, sociopathic narcissism" perfectly applies to his elbows-up insistences.
  21. leo bloom from radisson, sask, Canada writes: You must be a blast at parties, eh Tyler? The point is, I know you're really smart and yes, you have evrey right to throw those big words and hips around, like I say, you go girl. But really my little trout, this is still an obituary. Maybe you should treat it as such. Rest in peace M.Ponticelli.
  22. Alberto Bayo from Canada writes: I've had some long conversations with Veterans of both World Wars, and I lost my uncle, who crashed a Lancaster bomber in Germany in 1944. You can't help but admire the men who served and died for us. RIP Lazare....what a life! I like his simple description of war..."idiotic".
  23. GlynnMhor of Skywall from Canada writes: Al B from Toronto, Canada writes: "Normandy accelerated the fall of Germany it did not change the outcome."

    Normandy meant that the outcome would be vastly different. Had that front not been opened, the Hitler regime would have been replaced in Europe by an even more hideous and murderous Stalin one.
  24. Al B from Toronto, Canada writes: GlynnMhor: research operation Bagration. Normandy was a side-show.
  25. CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF REASON CENTRAL ONTARIO from Muskoka, Canada writes: -
    Tyler, with all due respect, Sir, this is a CANADIAN newspaper.

    A CANADIAN well-balanced, very polite conversation is always welcome.

    Thank you.

    Now, all you need to do, Tyler, is come up with your ''cheese-eating surrender monkeys'' diatribe.

    We've had enough of that kind of comments.

    Let me repeat clearly: This is a CANADIAN newspaper, and people who comment on these pages are expected to be respectful and polite.
  26. Al B from Toronto, Canada writes: Glynnmohr, I misunderstood your last post. The Allies had already opened a second front in Italy and in August 1944 they also landed in Provence. The Germans knew full well they'd better resist the Russians rather than the Allies. The conspirators that tried to assassinate Hitler wanted to make a separate peace with the Allies and combine to beat back the Russians. By the last months of the war the Western front was completely undefended and Stalin was afraid the Americans would get to Berlin first, which they could if they didn't promise Stalin they would let him get the prize.
  27. Roop Misir from Toronto, Canada writes: Not too many heroes can boast living through three centuries!
  28. GlynnMhor of Skywall from Canada writes: To go from Italy into the rest of western Europe requires crossing highly defensible territory, impractically defensible, and the invasion of Provence was only possible once the Normandy operation had drawn forces into that theatre and away from the south of France.

    Without Normandy the allies would have probably ended up being forced to give the russians much much more of europe than the actual case. Both ends of the Kiel canal, for example.
  29. Popeye Dillon from North Vancouver, Canada writes: Tyler Williams: I guess I didn't state the fact that I visited the cemeteries of both armies. My question was my answer. What did they die for? Someone elses twisted ideology. The same game is being played today as it always has been.

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