Today, in Paris, there was the funeral of Lazaro Ponticelli. You don't know who that is? Not a big surprise, he wasn't a celebrity. He was the last man to have fought in the WWI for France between 1914 and 1918 that was still alive. He was actually born in Italy but moved to France and adopted the country and decided to fight and defend it. He passed away a few days ago. In the beginning he refused to get a national funeral as the French government wanted to give him ut in the end he accepted as an hommage to all the others that fought with him.
There are 8 people left in the world that fought in WWI but no one left in France, the one before him passed away in January. His passing away marks the end of an era in France.
Here is an excerpt of an article read on www.20minutes.fr:
La scène est symbolique. Deux adolescentes cherchent une place sous les arcades de la cour d'honneur des Invalides, à Paris, où la Nation rend hommage à Lazare Ponticelli, dernier des poilus décédé la semaine dernière à l'âge de 110 ans. Elles se heurtent à la foule compacte qui a investi les lieux. Alors, deux personnes âgées les remarquent et leur cèdent leur place pour que les jeunes filles puissent voir la cérémonie. « Le plus important, expliquent-elles, c'est que la jeune génération puisse comprendre et ne pas oublier.»
In short it says that two teenagers tried to find their way through the crowd to see the ceremony. Then two elder people let them through so that the younger generation could understand and wouldn't forget.
When I think about what this represents for me, it feels strange. It feels that the war is finally over. That is ended only now. We've heard about the last few men in the last few years and it felt that I knew more about them that I knew about my great grand-father that died in that war. I knew about that when I was a child but then I had forgotten because we very rarely speak about that in my family. My uncle went to the ceremony today and told us about it by email afterwards. He reminded me of my great grand-father, that he had fought too for his country and died.
But if there's no one left to tell us the stories, how can we not forget? I hope, we'll find a way to remind us of the past, of the mistakes that have been made so that they are not made again and of the people that fought for their countries.
There are 8 people left in the world that fought in WWI but no one left in France, the one before him passed away in January. His passing away marks the end of an era in France.
Here is an excerpt of an article read on www.20minutes.fr:
La scène est symbolique. Deux adolescentes cherchent une place sous les arcades de la cour d'honneur des Invalides, à Paris, où la Nation rend hommage à Lazare Ponticelli, dernier des poilus décédé la semaine dernière à l'âge de 110 ans. Elles se heurtent à la foule compacte qui a investi les lieux. Alors, deux personnes âgées les remarquent et leur cèdent leur place pour que les jeunes filles puissent voir la cérémonie. « Le plus important, expliquent-elles, c'est que la jeune génération puisse comprendre et ne pas oublier.»
In short it says that two teenagers tried to find their way through the crowd to see the ceremony. Then two elder people let them through so that the younger generation could understand and wouldn't forget.
When I think about what this represents for me, it feels strange. It feels that the war is finally over. That is ended only now. We've heard about the last few men in the last few years and it felt that I knew more about them that I knew about my great grand-father that died in that war. I knew about that when I was a child but then I had forgotten because we very rarely speak about that in my family. My uncle went to the ceremony today and told us about it by email afterwards. He reminded me of my great grand-father, that he had fought too for his country and died.
But if there's no one left to tell us the stories, how can we not forget? I hope, we'll find a way to remind us of the past, of the mistakes that have been made so that they are not made again and of the people that fought for their countries.
Mycket bra skrivet Lorraine! Och väldigt tänkvärda ord. Jag håller förresten på att göra en "minnes-låda" till Elvin, med hans första små kläder, en dagstidningen från dagen då han föddes, hans första napp med mera. Det kan ju bli roligt för honom om ungefär 20 år att titta i den och förhoppningsvis kan jag då berätta för honom om vad som hände när han var liten! Det var väl en bra idé?
ReplyDeleteJag tycker att det är en väldigt bra idé. Samla så många minne och minnes tecken som möjligt, sen får Elvin bestämma vilka är viktigast för honom och vilka hjälpte honom att växa.
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