Every person employed by a school district as a probationary or permanent employee in a position requiring certification qualifications who enters the active military service of the United States of America or of the State of California, including active service in any uniformed auxiliary of, or to, any branch of such military service, created or authorized as such auxiliary by the Congress of the United States of America or by the Legislature of the State of California, or in the service of the United States Merchant Marine, or in full-time paid service of the American Red Cross, during any period of national emergency declared by the President of the United States of America or during any war in which the United States of America is engaged, shall be entitled to absent himself from his duties as an employee of the district.
Such absence shall not affect in any way the classification of such employee. In the case of a probationary employee, the period of such absence shall not count as part of the service required as a condition precedent to the classification of such employee as a permanent employee of the district, but such absence shall not be construed as a break in the continuity of the service of such employee for any purpose.
The dismissal or termination of any probationary employee because of reduced attendance due to war conditions, after his entry into the active military service or service in the American Red Cross, shall not deprive him of any of the benefits of this section.
Within six months after such employee honorably leaves such service or has been placed on inactive duty he shall, subject to the provisions of this section, be entitled to return to the position held by him at the time of his entrance into such service, at the salary to which he would have been entitled had he not absented himself from the service of the school district under this section.
If such employee was employed under a lawful contract for a period in excess of one year in a position in which he had not become a permanent employee of the district, he shall be entitled to return to such position for the period his contract of employment had to run at the time he entered such service. Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the contrary, a person employed to take the place of any such employee shall not have any right to such position following the return of such employee to the position.