Léon Weil
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Léon Roger Weil (16 July 1896 – 6 June 2006) was one of the last two surviving veterans of the battle of
Val-de-Marne Val-de-Marne (, "Vale of the Marne") is a department of France located in the Île-de-France region. Named after the river Marne, it is situated in the Grand Paris metropolis to the southeast of the City of Paris. In 2019, Val-de-Marne had a p ...
in the First World War. He was almost 110 when he died at the Val-de-Grâce military hospital in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
,
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
. Joining the army when he was 20 years old, he was assigned to the fifth battalion of chasseurs à pied (cinquième bataillon de chasseurs à pied) in
Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...
and took part in 1917 in the battle of
Chemin des Dames In France, the Chemin des Dames (; literally, the "ladies' path") is part of the route départementale (local road) D18 and runs east and west in the Aisne department, between in the west, the Route Nationale 2 (Laon to Soissons), and in the eas ...
. More than 150,000 people died during this battle. He was also a
French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...
fighter during
the Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
under the code name of ''Victor''. After the war, he worked as a sales representative in the women's fashion industry. A fan of theatre and boxing (he was quite a good boxer in his younger days), he continued to swim until the age of 102. At the time of his death he was one of the last seven surviving officially recognized French veterans of World War I.


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Photo and details

The Star, Malaysia. Death of Leon Weil, 109, leaves France with six surviving veterans of World War I
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weil, Leon 1896 births 2006 deaths French centenarians Men centenarians French Army soldiers French Resistance members Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur French military personnel of World War I