René Riffaud
René Félix Louis Joseph Riffaud (born December 19, 1898 in Souk el Arba , Tunisia , † January 16, 2007 in Tosny , France ) was one of the last French veterans of the First World War , colloquially called Poilus .
origin
His family came from the Jura . His father, a teacher in France, emigrated to the French colonies in North Africa to become a road construction engineer.
Military career
Riffaud was drafted as a simple soldier for the French colonial troops in April 1917. After serving in various regiments, he found himself in the Ardennes in 1918, at the end of the First World War. In 1919 he was temporarily discharged from the army because of pulmonary tuberculosis , but drafted again in the same year to serve in the colonial artillery. In 1924 he was finally dismissed as a war invalid due to chronic pleurisy .
Life after the military
After his time as a soldier, René Riffaud settled in Colombes , where he also spent most of his life. In 1933 he founded a company for the construction of electric motors there . He spent the last years of his life in Tosny in the Eure department in a nursing home.
On November 11, 2006, at the age of 107, Riffaud took part in the commemoration of the Armistice of 1918 at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, as one of the last living World War I veterans, accompanied by his great-granddaughter Charlène and in the presence of Jacques Chirac .
Awards
- Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur
- Croix de guerre 1914-1918
- Croix du combattant
- Médaille commémorative de la guerre 1914–1918
- Médaille Interalliée 1914–1918
- Médaille de la Reconnaissance de la Nation
See also
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Riffaud, René |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Riffaud, René Félix Louis Joseph (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French veteran of the First World War |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 19, 1898 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Souk el Arba , Tunisia |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 16, 2007 |
| Place of death | Tosny |