And then there was one

One surviving French veteran (poilu) from World War I, that is.

Louis de Cazenave, one of the last two official surviving French WWII veterans, died two days ago at age 110. Following his death, Lazare Ponticelli has become the last fully verified French veteran of World War I. (Apparently, the French government has approved a state funeral for the last official World War I French veteran to die. I'm sure he's not holding his breath in anticipation! ;))

Interestingly, Germany's last known veteran of WWI, Kästner, Erich, died on new years day this year at age 1008 and so did Poland's last known WWI veteran -Wycech, Stanisław - who died on Jan 12th, 2008 at age 108.

Lucky guys to live so long (90 + years!) after being involved in a war that claimed an estimated 20 million people (9.7 million military deaths and about 10 million civilian deaths) around the world!

Wikipedia has a link about surviving veterans of WWI. There are three living in the US - aged 106, 107, and 108 - of which one of them (the 106 year old) had "completed basic training, but did not see action: he was held back in reserves in England due to age." Actually the link says he was Canadian then - not American - but lives in the US now.

And the 108 year old, Harry Landis, apparently is in a nursing home in Florida, where he lives with his 100-year-old wife. Nice.

Incidentally, the last woman veteran from WWI, Charlotte Winters , died last year at age 109. Gladys Powers of Canada (age 108), who served for Britain, is now the last surviving female veteran of WWI.

P.S. More factoids about WWI.... if you be so inclined.

Wikipedia also has a link that discusses last surviving US war veterans in various wars over history.

A nice summary of tables at this article:

36: Countries involved in fighting

65 million: Soldiers served

4.7 million: U.S. veterans of war

2 million: U.S. troops sent overseas

25,000: American women who served overseas

53,402: Americans killed in action

63,114: Americans died of disease and other causes

1: Out of three French men age 13-30 died

3.5 million: Estimated prisoners of war by 1917

Sources: National World War I Museum, Congressional Research Service

Last Spanish-American War veteran:Nathan Cook died at 106 on Sept. 10, 1992, nearly 94 years after the war ended.

Last Civil War Union veteran:Albert Woolson died at 109 on Aug. 2, 1956, or 91 years after the war ended.

Last Civil War Confederate veteran:John Salling died at 112 on March 16, 1958, nearly 93 years after the war ended.

Last Revolutionary War veteran:Daniel Bakeman died at 109 on April 5, 1869, nearly 86 years after the war ended.

Source: Department of Veterans Affairs

How the United States' major modern wars compare

War	Duration	Number served	U.S. military deaths	U.S. military wounded	Major weapons introduced
World War I	1917-18{+1}	4.7 million	116,516	204,002	Airplane, tank, chemical warfare
World War II	1941-45{+1}	16.1 million	405,399	671,846	Amphibious assault ships, paratroops, atom bomb
Korean War	1950-53	5.7 million	54,246	103,284	Helicopters, first jet aircraft in combat
Vietnam War	1964-73	8.7 million	58,209	153,303	Rapid-fire assault rifles, laser-guided bombs, unmanned aerial vehicles
Persian Gulf War	1990-91	2.2 million	382	467	Spy satellites, stealth aircraft
Afghanistan and Iraq	October 2001-present	1.5 million	3,599	25,455	Satellite-guided bombs

Sources: Congressional Research Service, GlobalSecurity.org, Defense Department.