The President of the Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy, had decided to pay solemn tribute to Lazare Ponticelli, who died at the age of 110. The funeral ceremony took place in the presence of former President Jacques Chirac and the Italian Minister of Defence, Arturo Parisi. Lazare Ponticelli was of Italian origin. He had come to France before the war, at the age of 9.
The Head of State gave an obituary speech in which he honoured the memory of the “poilus”, the nickname given to French infantrymen, and spoke of our duty to remember. He insisted on the fact that this ceremony was “not a tribute to war”.
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