Wait, Which War Did Lt. Surge Fight In?

thegamer.com:

There’s a popular fan theory that posits Kanto went through a war sometime before the events of Pokemon Red & Blue. The Great Pokemon War, or Kanto War, would explain why there only seem to be children and elderly people in Kanto, why your character doesn’t have a dad, and why your rival doesn’t have any parents at all. Unfortunately, there’s not a single shred of evidence to hold up this theory. There’s no war memorials, no battle sites, and no references to war - save for one. Vermillion City gym leader Lt. Surge tells you that Electric-type Pokemon saved him during the war. In the absence of any other references to war in Pokemon, fans made one up.

Here’s the weird thing though: Lt. Surge isn’t even from Kanto. In fact, he isn’t from the Pokemon Nation at all apparently. Like the Diamond & Pearl’s French gym leader Fantima, Lt. Surge is from a real life place. According to the sign outside the Vermilion City Gym in FireRed and LeafGreen, Surge is known as the Lightning American. Folks, Lt. Surge is a United States army veteran.

Let’s break this down. Suppose the real world exists in the Pokemon universe too. There’s Kanto, Johto, Galar, and all the other regions from the Pokemon games within the Pokemon Nation, but then there are real countries too, like America and France. Before Legends: Arceus, Ghastly’s Pokedex entry directly referenced Indian elephants. Supposedly, Lt. Surge fought for the US in some real life war before later moving to Kanto and becoming a Pokemon gym leader.

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Now to answer the question, what war did Lt. Surge fight in? We don’t know his exact age, but we can guess he’s somewhere between 30 and 45 years old, based on his