PARIS Five French survivors of World War I, all aged 103 or 104, were present at armistice day ceremonies marking the end of the 1914-1918 conflict. The veterans, four of whom also later participated in World War II, were seated, sheltered from the wind and covered in blankets, next to Paris's Arc de Triomphe where President Jacques Chirac came to salute them. Eight million Frenchmen served in the war, of whom nearly 1.5 million were killed.
Tribute was also paid to the 2,500 students who demonstrated on the same spot on November 11, 1940 in one of the first acts of open resistance against the 1940-44 Nazi occupation. (Reuter)