It has to be said that, in our days, you were literally going into the unknown. Perhaps not the unknown, more the little known. I personally did not know if they were still in North Africa or not. I'd read Beau Geste and Legionnaire by Simon Murray and saw the cartoon strips in the papers of beau peep all took place in the desert.
Then one day going back to my commando unit in Arbroath, Scotland after leave after another 4 months in Norway, I said F- it, I'll go and join the FFL. Managed to put up with it for seventeen and a half years without knowing what I was letting myself in for.
Just a foot note, when you signed your contract in those days it was in French. And you did not get a copy of what you just signed.