Apologies for confusion caused....yes he served in the British Army.
He was still serving in 1972 as when my grandfather died, my own father tried to contact him and the M.O.D. passed on the information, they didn't reveal any details about there he was serving.
He had returned to Ireland in 1962 for my grandmother's funeral and I recall my own father (his brother) recounting he was obsessive about his weight which had to be kept at a certain level.