Military Service
He left Sardinia only to fight in the First World War. While recovering from a grenade wound in northern Italy he saw his first airplane and took a shot at it.
He was wounded in the Battle of Mount Grappa in the First World War, and was for a time the longest-lived known person ever to have fought in a war. On 19 December 2005 however, Todde's record as the oldest war combatant was ostensibly surpassed by Moses Hardy of the United States. A recent census find, however, suggests Hardy could have been one year younger. Thus, Todde remains the oldest verified man in the history of Italy and was the oldest proven combat veteran on record until his record was overtaken by Henry Allingham in May 2009.
Read more about this topic: Antonio Todde
Famous quotes containing the words military and/or service:
“The schoolmaster is abroad! And I trust to him armed with his primer against the soldier in full military array.”
—Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832)
“A man’s real faith is never contained in his creed, nor is his creed an article of his faith. The last is never adopted. This it is that permits him to smile ever, and to live even as bravely as he does. And yet he clings anxiously to his creed, as to a straw, thinking that that does him good service because his sheet anchor does not drag.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)