Carlo Orelli Carlo Orelli ( December 23 , 1894 – January 22 , 2005 ) was , at age 110 , the last surviving Italian World War I veteran who joined the army at the onset of the war . Born in Perugia , although he lived in Rome for most of his life , Orelli came from a military family whose members had served in various Italian conflicts since 1849 . A mechanic by trade , Orelli joined the Italian Army in May 1915 and engaged in combat operations in Italy . His recollections were marked by particularly brutal experiences of trench warfare , including the violent deaths of many of his friends . After receiving injuries to his leg , he was pulled from active duty and returned home . After recovering from a related infection , Orelli married and had a family of six children . During World War II , despite his aversion to Nazi Germany and fascism , he was forced to work as an artillery director in Italy . At war ' s end , he returned to work as a mechanic , retiring in 1960 . In his later years , he was active in urging others not to forget the lessons learned after the first World War , and in 2003 he was made a Grand Officer in the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic . He died in January 2005 , a month after having turned 110 and achieving supercentenarian status . At the time of his death he was Italy ' s oldest survivor of the First World War , the last remaining trench infantry man and the last survivor from Italy ' s entry into the war . Early life . Orelli was born in Perugia on December 23 , 1894 , although his family soon moved to Rome to be nearer to an aunt that operated a local tavern . Carlo came from a long history of military activity . His maternal grandfather , Thomas , helped defend Perugia against Austrian mercenaries in 1849 , while Carlo ' s father served in the Italian Abyssinian campaign during the Scramble for Africa in the 1880s . His elder brother Alfredo fought in Libya during the Italo - Turkish War in 1911 , while his younger brother William fought in World War II and was captured by the British in July 1943 . He lived in the Garbatella district , one of the most secluded areas of Rome , on the fourth floor of a house without an elevator . Before joining the war , he trained to become a mechanic . Military career . Orelli signed up for active duty at the age of 21 and joined the Austro - Hungarian front at the onset of the war in May 1915 . Entrenched with the 320 Infantry Regiment , he served as a foot soldier within the Italian Army and engaged in combat activity in the trenches near Trieste , which was the main battleground in the east . He also participated in combat operations around the Isonzo river . In his autobiography , Orelli went into great detail about his experiences , including the large amount of casualties that he witnessed during his time in the trenches and widespread illiteracy among the peasant soldiers . He referred to them as having " died in silence . " He also recalled many violent deaths , such as a friend whose feet were severed and subsequently bled to death and another who was decapitated in mid - conversation with Orelli . He remarked of episodes such as this that they were " things I do not wish to remember . " In interviews , he also described the experiences of fear that were common among the soldiers , and lamented the way in which films portrayed combat experiences . When it came to cannon shells , for example , the impact was not immediate , but approached with a gradual and frightful sound . He referred to the chances of the shell exploding as the " lottery of death . " While he remembers many soldiers turning to liquor to quell their fears , Orelli always refused it when offered . In order to mentally prepare himself for an attack , overcome this fear and keep a clear head , he forced himself to purge his mind of all thoughts of home and family . Orelli was eventually wounded in the right leg , an injury that ended his military career and sent him home . Despite having vivid memories of the war itself , he recalled little of the events immediately following his injury . During a confrontation with a group of Austrian soldiers , he was wounded in the leg and the left ear , a wound that was only a few inches away from being fatal . After being taken to a nearby farmhouse , he spent the rest of the war recovering from infection in hospitals , of which he remembered little . Post - World War I . After the war , Orelli resumed his previous occupation as a mechanic . He had six children after the war , one son and five daughters born between 1920 and 1935 , all of whom survived him . He also had nine grandchildren and eleven great - grandchildren at the time of his death . Although he was opposed to fascism , he found himself directing artillery in Gaeta during the Second World War , where he met his wife Cecilia . After the war , he returned to Rome and settled down with his family in Garbatella . He retired from his mechanic job in 1960 and his wife died in 1969 . In his later years , he was active in telling tales of his experiences in the First World War , imploring those who listened to " not forget our sacrifice . " In 2003 , on the occasion of his 109th birthday , Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi made Orelli a Grand Officer in the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic . Towards the end of his life , he was known as " The Last Infantryman , " which later became the title of the wartime memoirs that he published in 2004 . At the time of his death , many sources incorrectly reported him as having been the last Italian World War I veteran . While this was incorrect , he was Italy ' s oldest survivor of the First World War , the last remaining trench infantry man and the last survivor from when Italy first entered the war in 1915 .