Father made his military service in a French base in Tahiti. He served as waiter of officers, then it was more or less vacations for him.
Uncle made him in an other French base in Djibouti (Eastern Africa), and he prolonged by a professional contract during a while.
I guess my both grand father made their military service too, and I know one of them hided in a maquis close of where he lived during WW2, not to be taken into forced French workers for the Reich. Dunno a lot more about it, he didn't like to speak about all the painful aspects of war, though he did everything for that we, his grand children had a good education about it.
Other grand father, I knew him less, and he had heavy diseases like an heavy Parkinson, then he wasn't even really able to speak for the times I remember about him, and it wasn't the kind of topics on air in the family and I never really asked, what I would remind is that his children didn't know because him too didn't like to speak about it. Though, apparently during all his life he would have been a kind of 'man who doesn't speak a lot', and quite leftist but without claiming it, in his behaviors.
