didier Meurgues
18-01-2007, 07:09 PM
M. Riffaud died last monday, January 15 2007, aged 108, less than 1
year after his "discovery" and another one November 10 2006 at the Eve
of the November 11 celebrations. So it lasts only 3 french WWI veterans
who declared themselves officially now.
Has their reduction/decrease accelerated as well recentely in the other
WWI nations (50 veterans total), since the limit age of 107/108 seems
crucial...
didier Meurgues
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: debdav1@comcast.net
Date: 3 Mar 2006 13:58:25 -0800
Subject: OT: France recognizes new living WWI veterans
To:
France recognizes new living WWI veterans
PAUL DUKE
Associated Press
TOSNY, France - At age 107, Rene Riffaud has only hazy memories of his
part in the "war to end all wars," but he's quite clear about why
France has only now inducted him into the small and shrinking band of
hallowed World War I survivors.
Simply put, Riffaud figured those who died were the ones who deserved
the recognition: "I was more worried with living than looking back to
the past," he told The Associated Press.
France, belatedly, disagrees. This week, the veterans minister approved
a request from Riffaud's granddaughter that he be given an official
veteran's card - nearly 88 years after the war ended.
That decision, and the rediscovery of another veteran thought to have
died, has bumped France's tally of World War I survivors up to seven -
a remarkable development raising the possibility that there may be
others.
Riffaud was born in Tunisia, where he was drafted into a colonial
regiment for France, he said. He now lives in a retirement home in the
Eure region of Normandy, where he spoke to AP.
Riffaud, who is frail and uses a wheelchair since an accident six
months ago, shied away from the bright lights of a television camera
crew as he told of the destruction of the war.
He recalled being stationed in a forest near the Rhine River between
France and Germany and spoke about lingering ill health caused by
exposure to poisonous mustard gas. He said those who died deserved
recognition - not someone like himself, who took no part in combat.
"I did the war my way," he said, clutching a black-and-white photograph
of himself, dapper in his military uniform. "After the war, I was sick.
I had suffered from the (mustard) gas without knowing it."
Riffaud said he never liked talking about military issues and was not a
combat soldier.
"I expect no reward from anyone," he said. "My son had the veteran
card, but I never felt the need for it. I am a 'poilu' because I was
forced to see and do certain things."
The issue of how many survivors remain in France is important not least
because the death of the last veteran is expected to be marked by
commemorations nationwide.
Riffaud and Francois Jaffre, 104, join France's revered club of
officially recognized "poilus," a nickname the French use when
referring to its vets from the 1914-1918 war.
Jaffre had been on the lists of the national veterans office, but
slipped off when he did not tell officials he had moved from Paris to a
retirement home in the suburban Yvelines region.
"We thought he was dead," said Farida Cherkaoui, a spokeswoman for the
veterans' minister. Jaffre finally reregistered, "and that is why he
has reappeared," she added.
She said she had no details about his record in the war. According to
the Friday edition of the daily Le Monde, Jaffre joined the navy at age
16, in September 1917, and served on a submarine-hunter escorting
American troop ships from New York to France.
Riffaud's granddaughter brought his case to official attention,
applying last year for his veteran's card. Hamlaoui Mekachera, France's
veterans minister, signed off on the request Thursday, his office said.
"We are very happy. Instead of there being five of them, there are
seven, and I hope that they will remain among us for a very long time,"
the minister said Friday on LCI television.
Mekachera said he does not expect many more World War I veterans to de
discovered, but added, "It is not impossible that we could discover
some ... There have been two cases in one week."
There appears to be no exact worldwide count of surviving veterans from
the war that set a terrible new benchmark in the history of human
conflict in left millions dead on muddy, trench-covered battlefields.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs said eight WWI vets were listed
on benefits rolls as of September 2005. The count of survivors was lost
after the question was left off a census taken in the 1990s, said USDVA
spokesman Jose Llamas.
"I know that there are less than 50 veterans worldwide," he said.
Living U.S. veterans include a 112-year old man living in Puerto Rico
and a 104-year old in the Washington, D.C., area, he said.
Britain has 13 survivors, said Dennis Goodwin of the World War One
Veterans Association. The British government has voiced support for a
plan to hold a state funeral when the last one dies. It would be the
first such funeral since the death of Winston Churchill in 1965.
The Turkish War Veterans Association says it has no WWI survivors.
Italy appears to have about 10. Germany has no official figure, but an
official at its organization for war graves estimated about five.
France's oldest surviving veteran, Maurice Floquet, will turn 112 on
Dec. 25, Cherkaoui said. He lives in the Var region of southeastern
France.
The French count of survivors had, until now, steadily dwindled.
President Jacques Chirac, in his first year in power in 1995, asked for
a census of survivors so they could be awarded the Legion of Honor,
France's most prestigious award.
year after his "discovery" and another one November 10 2006 at the Eve
of the November 11 celebrations. So it lasts only 3 french WWI veterans
who declared themselves officially now.
Has their reduction/decrease accelerated as well recentely in the other
WWI nations (50 veterans total), since the limit age of 107/108 seems
crucial...
didier Meurgues
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: debdav1@comcast.net
Date: 3 Mar 2006 13:58:25 -0800
Subject: OT: France recognizes new living WWI veterans
To:
France recognizes new living WWI veterans
PAUL DUKE
Associated Press
TOSNY, France - At age 107, Rene Riffaud has only hazy memories of his
part in the "war to end all wars," but he's quite clear about why
France has only now inducted him into the small and shrinking band of
hallowed World War I survivors.
Simply put, Riffaud figured those who died were the ones who deserved
the recognition: "I was more worried with living than looking back to
the past," he told The Associated Press.
France, belatedly, disagrees. This week, the veterans minister approved
a request from Riffaud's granddaughter that he be given an official
veteran's card - nearly 88 years after the war ended.
That decision, and the rediscovery of another veteran thought to have
died, has bumped France's tally of World War I survivors up to seven -
a remarkable development raising the possibility that there may be
others.
Riffaud was born in Tunisia, where he was drafted into a colonial
regiment for France, he said. He now lives in a retirement home in the
Eure region of Normandy, where he spoke to AP.
Riffaud, who is frail and uses a wheelchair since an accident six
months ago, shied away from the bright lights of a television camera
crew as he told of the destruction of the war.
He recalled being stationed in a forest near the Rhine River between
France and Germany and spoke about lingering ill health caused by
exposure to poisonous mustard gas. He said those who died deserved
recognition - not someone like himself, who took no part in combat.
"I did the war my way," he said, clutching a black-and-white photograph
of himself, dapper in his military uniform. "After the war, I was sick.
I had suffered from the (mustard) gas without knowing it."
Riffaud said he never liked talking about military issues and was not a
combat soldier.
"I expect no reward from anyone," he said. "My son had the veteran
card, but I never felt the need for it. I am a 'poilu' because I was
forced to see and do certain things."
The issue of how many survivors remain in France is important not least
because the death of the last veteran is expected to be marked by
commemorations nationwide.
Riffaud and Francois Jaffre, 104, join France's revered club of
officially recognized "poilus," a nickname the French use when
referring to its vets from the 1914-1918 war.
Jaffre had been on the lists of the national veterans office, but
slipped off when he did not tell officials he had moved from Paris to a
retirement home in the suburban Yvelines region.
"We thought he was dead," said Farida Cherkaoui, a spokeswoman for the
veterans' minister. Jaffre finally reregistered, "and that is why he
has reappeared," she added.
She said she had no details about his record in the war. According to
the Friday edition of the daily Le Monde, Jaffre joined the navy at age
16, in September 1917, and served on a submarine-hunter escorting
American troop ships from New York to France.
Riffaud's granddaughter brought his case to official attention,
applying last year for his veteran's card. Hamlaoui Mekachera, France's
veterans minister, signed off on the request Thursday, his office said.
"We are very happy. Instead of there being five of them, there are
seven, and I hope that they will remain among us for a very long time,"
the minister said Friday on LCI television.
Mekachera said he does not expect many more World War I veterans to de
discovered, but added, "It is not impossible that we could discover
some ... There have been two cases in one week."
There appears to be no exact worldwide count of surviving veterans from
the war that set a terrible new benchmark in the history of human
conflict in left millions dead on muddy, trench-covered battlefields.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs said eight WWI vets were listed
on benefits rolls as of September 2005. The count of survivors was lost
after the question was left off a census taken in the 1990s, said USDVA
spokesman Jose Llamas.
"I know that there are less than 50 veterans worldwide," he said.
Living U.S. veterans include a 112-year old man living in Puerto Rico
and a 104-year old in the Washington, D.C., area, he said.
Britain has 13 survivors, said Dennis Goodwin of the World War One
Veterans Association. The British government has voiced support for a
plan to hold a state funeral when the last one dies. It would be the
first such funeral since the death of Winston Churchill in 1965.
The Turkish War Veterans Association says it has no WWI survivors.
Italy appears to have about 10. Germany has no official figure, but an
official at its organization for war graves estimated about five.
France's oldest surviving veteran, Maurice Floquet, will turn 112 on
Dec. 25, Cherkaoui said. He lives in the Var region of southeastern
France.
The French count of survivors had, until now, steadily dwindled.
President Jacques Chirac, in his first year in power in 1995, asked for
a census of survivors so they could be awarded the Legion of Honor,
France's most prestigious award.