[2]: 230 During World War II his brothers Victor-Emmanuel and Jean Brial joined the Free French Forces in 1941 from New Caledonia.
Brial, still a minor at 19 years old, had his papers falsified and joined the Free French Forces in 1942.
[3] In 1953, during the royal succession crisis in Wallis, Benjamin Brial applied for the title of Lavelua, but the administration of New Caledonia refused to allow a French citizen to become customary king.
During the 1986 French legislative election, the opposition of the UDF was divided between two candidates; the three-way contest allowed Brial to retain his seat as deputy.
During the 1988 French legislative election he won narrowly over Kamilo Gata, a former RPR political adviser "disappointed by the immobility of his original party".