"Aux enfants, je leur dis et je leur répète : ne faites pas la guerre."

"To the children, I told them and I repeated to them, do not make war."

--Lazare Ponticelli, the last surviving French veteran of World War I.

In comments on Glenn Greenwald's blog on Salon, frequent and cherished commenter sysprog wrote:

Le Monde reported, yesterday, the death of Lazare Ponticelli, age 110, the last French veteran of "World War One" (previously known as "The war to end all wars" and "The Great War").

For the past 90 years, Mr. Ponticelli had been speaking for those he left behind, including a story about how he crawled into "no man's land" to retrieve a wounded comrade, but first dragged a wounded German back to the German trenches.

For the past 90 years, Mr. Ponticelli had been going to war memorials, and complaining about the long, bombastic speeches.

And for the past 90 years, he had been visiting schools and hammering always at his never-ending plea:
"To the children, I told them and I repeated to them, do not make war."

Lazare Ponticelli, le dernier poilu français, est mort
LE MONDE | 12.03.08 | 17h08
[...] Chaque 11 novembre, Lazare allait à pied au monument aux morts du Kremlin-Bicêtre, râlait contre les discours ampoulés, emphatiques, "toujours trop longs". Il se rendait aussi dans les écoles à 100 ans passés et martelait la même supplique.

"Aux enfants, je leur dis et je leur répète : ne faites pas la guerre."

When will we ever learn?
-- sysprog
Thursday, March 13, 2008 10:26 AM

Cross-posted at Watching Those We Chose.