France (born in Italy)
Lazare Ponticelli
1897–2008 Foreign Legion soldier, then Alpini machine gunner, 1914–1920; last French veteran
Born in a mountain village near Piacenza, in northern Italy, in December 1897, Lazare Ponticelli emigrated to France as a child and worked as a chimney sweep near Paris. In August 1914, aged 16, he lied about his age to join the French Foreign Legion, serving alongside his brother Céleste. When Italy entered the war in 1915 he was transferred, against his will, to the Italian Army and fought as a machine gunner in the 3rd Alpini Regiment, where he was wounded. After the war he and his brothers built up Ponticelli Frères, an industrial chimney firm, and in 1939 they became French citizens. He died on 12 March 2008, aged 110, France's last surviving veteran, having accepted a state funeral only in the name of all who died.