Lazare Ponticelli, the last hairy man of 14-18, died in 2008. With him, the war of 14 left the field of memory of our fathers to enter history, through the great gate - the Arc de Triomphe. This does not in any way protect it from oblivion or confusion: is the siege of Verdun one day promised in the minds of our descendants to the uncertain fate of Alesia? Aware of this risk, our time is multiplying initiatives in order to cultivate this past that is receding.
And that's a good thing. Rekindling the flame, tribute to the Unknown Soldier, tradition of the cornflower of France, so many old or recent initiatives to perpetuate in the most lively way possible these years when an entire country was as never mobilized, its sons in arms, its economy put in order of battle; during these months of fighting and suffering, with a single goal, translated into a formula: "The blue line of the Vosges", that is to say, the return of Alsace and Moselle to the national fold.
The Great War has left us with images, that of general mobilization, that of tenacity and sacrifices, but also that of the Sacred Union – even if it was imperfect and fragile during the four years of conflict
Obviously, the time is no more...
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