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France buries last World War I veteran
France today honored its last World War I veteran, who died last week, and all the other 8.4 million Frenchmen who fought in the conflict nearly a century ago.
The day of tribute began with a Roman Catholic funeral Mass attended by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, government ministers, soldiers and members of the family of Lazare Ponticelli. Ponticelli died last Wednesday at age 110.
Born in Italy, Ponticelli was a French citizen for most of the past century. Worldwide, only a handful of veterans of the 1914-1918 war remain alive.
Sarkozy decided to honor the memory of all French soldiers of World War I at Ponticelli’s funeral.
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