About Louis de Cazenave
Louis de Cazenave (October 16, 1897 – January 20, 2008) was, at the time of his death, the oldest surviving French veteran of World War I. De Cazenave became the oldest living poilu following the death of 111-year-old Maurice Floquet on November 10, 2006, and later following the death of 110-year-old Aimé Avignon on August 23, 2007, also the oldest living Frenchman as well as the fourth-oldest living European man. After the death of Japaneseman Giichi Okumura on October 13, 2007, he was also the 12th-oldest living man in the world. After his death, de Cazenave was succeeded as the oldest living Frenchman as well as French veteran of World War I by Italian-born Lazare Ponticelli, who was two months younger and died only two months later, on March 12, 2008. Two further French veterans, 108-year-old Fernand Goux and 109-year-old Pierre Picault who were the oldest living Frenchmen after Ponticelli's death as well as the last living Frenchmen born before 1900, died later in November 2008, but neither was officially recognized as the last French veteran of the war by the government of France because they served fewer than three months. Although at first refusing any decorations, de Cazenave accepted the Légion d’honneur in 1995, along with several other veterans.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.