I won a medal in the war.

[tomatwark]

I was watching TV last night and an advert for BUPA care homes came on.

The animated man said " I won a medal in the war ".

I immediately assumed he meant WW2.

He then went on to say he was 83, this would mean he was 16 in 1945 and therefore too young to fight.

My first thought was the advert was wrong.

I then got to thinking and realised that he could have fought in Korea or even been a senior officer in the Falklands, both of which were wars.

I am in my 40's and WW2 was my first thought.

If some one said " I won a medal in the war " to you which war would you think of ?

Also I wonder if someone said this in 40 or 50 years time would the first thought be Afghanistan.

Tom

 

[JakeS]

The animated man said " I won a medal in the war ".

I immediately assumed he meant WW2.

He then went on to say he was 83, this would mean he was 16 in 1945 and therefore too young to fight.

I'm in my thirties, and I'd still assume WWII if someone said "the war"! Which is a bit silly, 'cause there hasn't been much of the intervening time which we haven't been at war with someone or other...

A more-reactionary friend of mine once said that WWII was the last war he'd feel comfortable fighting in, 'cause the other side was obviously "the bad guys", while in subsequent conflicts we've been involved with it's been a bit more grey vs. grey, so maybe perception like that - probably coupled with the related fact that it's over-represented in movies and TV compared to other, more-recent wars - makes people think of WWII above others? I guess it was also the last war that directly touched this country, unless you count the Falklands - which a lot of people my age will have completely forgotten about!

To be honest, I expect they probably meant WWII as well, and either scripted the advert a couple of years ago when the numbers made more sense, or just didn't think about it that much!

 

[wobblycogs]

Interesting, I'm in my thirties too and I would have assumed WW2 as well. As you say Jake the wars we've been involved in since then haven't really affected the general population (other than to cost a lot of money and therefore keep the tax rate up). Even the Falklands wasn't really much of a war as there was no realistic chance the Argies would invade the UK mainland.

I do wonder what my 18 month old daughter will think of WW2 sometimes though. I still have one surviving grandparent who fought in the war and so I feel that I have some connection to that time. It's unlikely, I think, that my daughter will ever talk to anyone who was actually involved in the fighting so WW2 will always be something third hand to her. I just hope that as the collective memory of WW2 fades we don't go and repeat the mistake!

 

[Tinbasher]

Interesting advert based they say on a true story. I was doing the maths as well especially as the child drawn in the advert is dressed in edwardian dress. They got him his own chickens he says. Well done BUPA my experience of care homes is that you lucky to get your own teeth never mind your own chickens!