[kycarguy 935]

I agree with it being a sad part of history and many didn't have choices at that time even for the Pope:

Pope's Nazi past
Benedict XVI former Hitler Youth member

Cardinal Ratzinger earned an unfortunate nickname from his more progressive peers: the "Panzer Cardinal". Like the tank. Pope Benedict XVI, now 78, had his own brush with warfare as a young boy growing up in Nazi Germany.

* At age, 14 membership in Germany's "Hitler Youth" became mandatory. So Joseph Ratzinger enrolled
* He managed to get out early so he could study for the priesthood.
* Two years later, when he was 16, Ratzinger was drafted again by the German Army.
* Ratzinger worked as a helper in an anti-aircraft briagde.
* In 1945, he was put through basic training and stationed near his hometown in Bavaria.
* When Allied forces advanced, he deserted the German army — risking death by that act alone.
* After he escaped, Ratzinger was captured by American soldiers and spent the remainder of the war in a POW camp.