Delfino Edmondo Borroni (23 August 1898 – 26 October 2008), Knight of Vittorio Veneto, was, at age 110, Italy's oldest man, and the eleventh-oldest verified man in the world. He was the last veteran of the Alpine Front in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, following the June 2008 death of the penultimate Italian Francesco Domenico Chiarello. The last

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

veteran,

Franz Künstler Franz Künstler (, 24 July 1900 – 27 May 2008) was, at age 107, the last known surviving veteran of the First World War who fought for the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Following the death of 110-year-old Ottoman veteran Yakup Satar on 2 April 2008 ...

, died in May 2008. At the time of his death, there two other trench veterans survived:

Britons British people or Britons, also known colloquially as Brits, are the citizens of the United Kingdom, the British Overseas Territories, and the Crown dependencies.: British nationality law governs modern British citizenship and nationality, w ...

Harry Patch Henry John Patch (17 June 1898 – 25 July 2009), dubbed in his later years "the Last Fighting Tommy", was an English supercentenarian, briefly the oldest man in Europe, and the world's last surviving trench combat soldier of the First World ...

and

Frenchman French people () are a nation primarily located in Western Europe that share a common French culture, history, and language, identified with the country of France. The French people, especially the native speakers of langues d'oïl from nort ...

Fernand Goux Fernand Goux (31 December 1899 – 9 November 2008) was, at age 108, the penultimate French World War I veteran, with Pierre Picault being the last. "On a retrouvé un soldat de 1918 vivant". '' Ouest-France'' (19 June 2008). Born in Sceaux-d ...

, who fought on the Western Front. Borroni, a mechanic, was born in

Giussago Giussago is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Pavia in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 20 km south of Milan and about 11 km north of Pavia. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 4,053 and an area of 24.8&n ...

, in the

province of Pavia The province of Pavia () is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital is Pavia. , the province has a population of 548,722 inhabitants and an area of ; the town of Pavia has a population of 72,205. History T ...

; he was called up in January 1917, and assigned to the 6th Bersaglieri Regiment in March. He first saw action in the

Pasubio Cima Palon, also called Monte Pasubio, is the highest peak of the Pasubio group of Little Dolomites in Veneto, Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. I ...

Alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National P ...

massif, where he fought against the

forces. He also fought in

Valsugana The Valsugana (, ) or Sugana Valley is one of the most important valleys in the autonomous province of Trentino in Northern Italy. Leading into the Alps' foothills, an important main north-south Roman road, the Via Claudia Augusta, one of Europ ...

and at

Caporetto Kobarid (; ; ; ) is a settlement in Slovenia, the administrative centre of the Municipality of Kobarid. Kobarid is known for the 1917 Battle of Caporetto, where the Italian retreat was documented by Ernest Hemingway in his novel ''A Farewell to A ...

, where, after being shot in the heel while on a dangerous

reconnaissance In military operations, military reconnaissance () or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, the terrain, and civil activities in the area of operations. In military jargon, reconnai ...

mission, he was captured as an Austrian

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

and was forced to dig trenches until he managed to escape in the last days of the war. He was seriously wounded as a

civilian A civilian is a person who is not a member of an armed force. It is war crime, illegal under the law of armed conflict to target civilians with military attacks, along with numerous other considerations for civilians during times of war. If a civi ...

, a

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

driver, in an

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

air raid during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. His death was noted in the news. The Italian Government's Defense Minister

Ignazio La Russa Ignazio Benito Maria La Russa (born 18 July 1947) is an Italian politician who is serving as President of the Senate of the Republic (Italy), president of the Senate of the Republic since 2022 President of the Italian Senate election, 13 Octob ...

attended the funeral.

References

External links

Official site

At age 106

Obituary in ''La Stampa''Article in Times
1898 births 2008 deaths People from the Province of Pavia Italian military personnel of World War I Italian supercentenarians Knights of the Order of Vittorio Veneto Men supercentenarians {{Italy-mil-bio-stub

See also

References

External links