Editing Louis-Ferdinand Céline (section)

===World War I and Africa===
In 1912, Céline volunteered for the French army (in what he described as an act of rebellion against his parents)<ref>{{Harvp|McCarthy|1976|p=22}}</ref> and began a three-year enlistment in the [[12th Cuirassier Regiment (France)|12th Cuirassier Regiment]] stationed in [[Rambouillet]].<ref name="O'Connell14" /> At first he was unhappy with military life and considered deserting. However, he adapted and eventually attained the rank of sergeant.<ref>{{Harvp|McCarthy|1976|pp=22-24}}</ref> The beginning of the First World War brought action to Céline's unit. On 25 October 1914, he volunteered to deliver a message when others were reluctant to do so because of heavy German fire. Near [[Ypres]], during his attempt to deliver the message, he was wounded in his right arm. (Although he was not wounded in the head, as he later claimed, he did suffer severe headaches and [[tinnitus]] for the rest of his life.)<ref>{{Harvp|McCarthy|1976|p=24}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Vitoux|1992|pp=76-78}}</ref> For his bravery, he was awarded the ''[[médaille militaire]]'' in November and appeared one year later in the weekly ''l'Illustré National'' (November 1915).<ref name="O'Connell14" /> He later wrote that his wartime experience left him with "a profound disgust for all that is bellicose."<ref>{{Harvp|Vitoux|1992|p=102}}</ref>

In March 1915, he was sent to London to work in the French passport office. He spent his nights visiting music halls and the haunts of the London underworld and claimed to have met [[Mata Hari]].<ref>{{Harvp|Vitoux|1992|pp=83-84}}</ref> He later drew on his experiences in the city for his novel ''Guignol's Band'' (1944). In September, he was declared unfit for military duty and was discharged from the army. Before returning to France, he married Suzanne Nebout, a French dancer, but the marriage wasn't registered with the French Consulate, and they soon separated.<ref>{{Harvp|Vitoux|1992|pp=85-88}}</ref>

In 1916, Céline went to French-administered [[Cameroon]] as an employee of the Forestry Company of Sangha-Oubangui. He worked as an overseer on a plantation and a trading post and ran a pharmacy for the local inhabitants, procuring essential medical supplies from his parents in France. He left Africa in April 1917 due to ill health. His experiences in Africa left him with a distaste for colonialism and an increasing passion for medicine as a vocation.<ref>{{Harvp|Vitoux|1992|pp=94-104}}</ref>