From a very young age, I knew my Dad's best friend had been injured in 'the war'. I studied the man at length, and very innocently deduced that he must have swallowed a grenade to keep all his fellow soldiers safe. It wasn't until I was about 12 years old that I realized he just had an enormous beer gut.

Aimee

After reading books The Diary of Anne Frank and The Hiding Place, I started to horde books and clothes in case there was another world war and we had to go into hiding. My first year of college (1982) I finally figured out this wasn't going to happen. I live in the United States.

me again

I used to think that World War I and World War II were "War War I" and "War War II", because I've always had bad hearing and I've only seen it wrote out as WWI & WWII. I actually put "War War I" on a timeline for a project in 6th grade.

Anon

When I was a kid, I thought that Sectarian violence in Northern Ireland was actually Septarian Violence. I could Never Understand why there was so much trouble between 70 year olds!

mistersnappy

i used to believe that the purpose of bombs dropped from planes was so they would land on people pinning them to the ground preventing them from getting up.i suppose in a way it is.

felix

During the Gulf War me and my friends thought that Hitler, Stalin and Saddam Hussein were brothers, as evil was genetic

Anon

My dad told me that in the Battle of Hastings when King Harold was shot in the eye with an arrow, the archer who fired it said he didn't know his bow was loaded.

Puds

I was a child in the sixties. Since my grandfather had been in WWI, My father was in WWII, and my brother (who was eleven years older than me) was going to be in the Vietnam war; I just assumed that when I came of age, there would be a war for me too - that society was somehow structured this way. By the time I was a teenager, I knew better of course, but I still couldn't shake the feeling that some war was destined for me. Fortunately, as it turned out, there was no US war in the late seventies, breaking the generational cycle. I hope the same goes for my son.

Jonathan

At the end of the street where i lived in Antwerp, there is a monument of worldwar 1. It shows 4 statue's of naked and serious looking men, only wearing an army helmet (and a sword in front of them to cover up their ...).
I asked my mother what this monument was about and she said it was made for all the people who died in the first worldwar. Of course i was surprised.... That they took the effort of making a large monument for a war where only 4 guys were killed.

Willem

When I was a kid, another kid told me that the U.S. Civil War was fought over the question of whether "hell" and "damn" should be considered "dirty words". I believed that for what must have been several years.

Dave

In kindergarten, I imagined that World War Two had taken place long before the invention of guns, and everyone had fought with swords while wearing heavy armor, like in medieval times. I drew a picture of my grandpa 'in the war' fighting a guy with a big sword. My dad, his son, was very amused.

Liz

I used to think the Civil War was actually the Silver War. So one time in school they were talking 'bout the civil war and i said, " hahahaha your saying the name wrong, its silver not civil!" Then a boy said, "what was the 'silver war' about" in a real snotty way and i said, "They ran out of silver spoons and they were fighting for some more" Everyone thought i was brain dead...

Lauren the Silver Doof

I used to believe that a war was when men in colonial outfits would tell their enemies to meet them at an area with green grass and a metal fence surrounding the area like in many playgrounds. They would then all meet there. There, the good guys and their enemies would sword fight and the winners of the war were the ones that won the sword fight.

Aerith

When I was younger I thought that the Gulf War was being fought in the US near the Gulf of Mexico. I thought this for a really really long time.

Jarrod

I used to believe that there had been eleven world wars, however I was confused why there weren't many movies and stories about 2, 3, 4 etc

I assumed that they hadn't been very good wars.

(Pick the child of the seventies watching all the bad 60's TV shows - Desert Rats, Combat, Baa Baa Black Sheep etc etc)

Adar

i was about 10, before the Gulf War started and i remeber hearing about it all the time. i also remeber watching endless hours of it ontelevision. However, i thought i was all about GOLF. i couldnt figure out why people would fight so much about Golf.

Zo

When I was really little, I thought that the American army fought the American Navy or the Marines or the Police Department. I thought war was like a football game and whoever got the most points won. (Too bad it turned out I was wrong!)

Anon

As I grew up, my father would tell me stories of his time in Viet Nam and would preface these stories with "Charlie...". I grew up thinking that one man named "Charlie" gave our US military hell!!!

Anon

Since he had fought in WWII, I naturally assumed my grandfather had killed Hitler himself.

Anon

my logic told me that, being a bad thing, any war was forbidden and therefore practically impossible. when i learned that there are many wars going on in this world all the time, i didn't understand why noone came to arrest those responsible.

Anna Asisa