WWI Vet Passes Away

J. Russel Coffee, one of three known living US WWI vets, has passed away at age 109. As the article and fark submitter noted, he drove a car until he was 104.


Since I've established a history of tracking the lives of the remaining WWI vets, I figured it was appropriate to note. I've always been interested in WWI, since it seems like WWII kind of pushed it out of the national attention.

As the article notes:

The other known surviving American soldiers are Frank Buckles, 106, of Charles Town, W.Va., and Harry Landis, of Sun City Center, Fla., according to the Veterans Affairs Department.

He was the last Ohio WWI veteran, and had never seen action since he enlisted a month before the world ended.

Peace, J. Russel.

Technorati Tag: WWI Veterans

Last Survivor of WWI Christmas Truce Dies

Alfred Anderson, the last survivor of the WWI Christmas Truce, died in his sleep yesterday. He was 109 years old.

In one of the most odd stories of war, on Christmas Day in 1914 in Ypres, Belgium, the British and German troops in the trenches staged an impromptu truce, sang Christmas Carols, exchanged small gifts, and most famously (allegedly) played soccer.

He was interviewed last year by the Guardian, before the 90th anniversary of the event, in what I consider to be a powerful article.

Dude was a WWI vet, people. Peace, Alfred.



Technorati Tag: WWI Veterans

One of Two Surviving French WWI Vets Passes

The BBC reports that Louis De Cazenave, one of two surviving WWI veterans, has passed away in his sleep. He was 110.

Mr de Cazenave, born on 16 October 1897 signed up in 1916 and served with a number of different infantry and artillery regiments, including the fifth Senegalese battalion.
After the liberation of France and the end of the war he returned to civilian life and became a railwayman. He married and had three sons before retiring at the age of 41.

The article reports that he fought in the Battle of the Somme. His passing means that Lazare Ponticelli, aged 110, is now France's sole surviving veteran of the War to End All Wars.

Peace, Louis.

WWI Vet - Follow-up - Louis De Cazenave

The BBC has followed-up on the original reporting of the death of Louis De Cazenave, who was until this past weekend one of the two surviving French WWI Veterans. The follow-up gives a bit more of a biography to Messr. De Cazenave. It sounds like he experienced first-hand some of the worst that "The World War" had to offer.

In April 1917, assigned to the Fifth Senegalese Rifles, he fought in one of the most disastrous French actions of the war, at the Chemin des Dames, during the Second Battle of the Aisne.

...

Forewarned, the Germans dug in so well that the creeping artillery barrage ahead of the French advance did little to dislodge them.

Across the battlefront the French lost 40,000 men on the first day.

Some reports say the advancing French bleated in mocking acknowledgement that they were lambs to the slaughter.

The article, though brief, is well worth reading.

Au revoir, Monsieur.

(Messr. De Cazenave's English Wikipedia page here. Original exitramp discussion here. Or just scroll down an inch or so.)

Ponticelli - Last French WWI Vet Passes

Messr. Lazare Ponticelli, the last surviving French WWI veteran, passed away Wed. Mar 12th, at age 110. Au Revior et merci Messr. Ponticelli.

Mr Ponticelli, who lived with his daughter in a southern suburb of Paris, had initially refused a government offer of a state funeral, the AFP news agency reported.

But he later decided to accept "in the name of all those who died, men and women", during WWI.

Further:

Ponticelli joined the Foreign Legion during the war and served in the Argonne region of forest, rivers and lakes in northeast France, digging burial pits and trenches.

"At the beginning, we barely knew how to fight and had hardly any ammunition. Every time that one of us died, we fell silent and waited for our turn," he said in the 2005 interview.

He also recalled running into no man's land to save a wounded comrade stuck in barbed wire.

"He was shouting, 'Come and get me, I've severed a leg.' The stretcher-bearers didn't dare go out. I couldn't bear it any longer," he said.

When Italy entered the war in 1915, Ponticelli was called up to fight with an Italian Alpine regiment. He tried to hide, but was found and sent to fight the Austrian army.

He described moments of fraternity with enemy Austrian soldiers.

"They gave us tobacco, and we gave them loaves of bread. No one was shooting any more. The headquarters found out, and moved us to a tougher zone," he told Le Monde.

He described the joy in receiving letters from a milkmaid who "adopted" him when he was serving in Italy. He couldn't read at the time, so comrades read them to him, according to a biography by the Versailles veterans' office.

The Italian President Giorgio Napolitano expressed condolences "in the name of all Italians" to the veteran's daughter, Jeannine Desbaucheron.

By fighting first for France and then for Italy, Ponticelli "offered an admirable example of an elevated sense of duty and dedication to both his adoptive country and his country of birth," Napolitano wrote in a message to her.

God Bless, Mr. Ponticelli, and Fare Thee Well.

(Late) Merry Christmas Post

We had a busy night of meeting with the various familial groups, so I wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and etc.

Since we're reaching a critical juncture at which our surviving WWI vets are diminishing significantly, I just want to throw out a special Happy Holidays to any Veterans of the Great War. This is especially driven by the 93rd anniversary of the Christmas Truce.

Here's a shout-out to all those who have served their country in times of war, and times of need.