Socially isolated veterans can create a community by sharing their experiences, say researchers whose work feeds into a Government strategy to end loneliness among former members of the military.

Around one in eight older adults in the UK population is a veteran, equating to around 1.7 million people - the highest ever proportion due to National Service which ended in 1963.

To mark the centenary of the end of World War One, the Ministry of Defence are launching a new 10 year Veteran strategy which emphasises community integration.

Researchers looked at the lives of veterans aged from 68-99 as part of a Lancaster University research project funded by HM Treasury Aged Veterans Fund with the help of the Royal British Legion.

The experiences of those interviewed ranged from the army, navy or air force to the military police, medical corps, engineering and intelligence services, with service in conflicts from World War Two to the Falklands.

Many found joining the military changed their lives forever, as one interviewee explained:

“…it’s a different world, and unless you’ve actually done it, you can’t understand, and you can’t explain.”

The companionship of military service lasted for a lifetime:

“My closest group of friends for my entire life have been the people I was a boy soldier with, to this day. We share a closer relationship than any other relationships I’ve ever made in my life.”

As veterans aged, they lost their friends and became increasingly lonely but few spoke about this directly, though one man interviewed had not spoken to anyone for four days: “People like me, and there are a lot of veterans that live on their own, they can be desperately lonely. “

Telling stories of military service gave ex-service personnel a sense of community. Several participants told a story of being at social events, like weddings, with strangers and sharing a common bond of service.

“I was talking to one man, and he said, “You’ve served.” He says “The way you’re talking, you’ve served.” And I just laughed, and says, “Yeah.” He said, “We’ve all got our own way.” And it is: we are a community.”

The HM Armed Forces Veterans' Lapel Badge helped by enabling veterans to recognise each other: “You meet people in the street .. that little badge really goes a long way, and people say, “Oh, you served,” and they’ll stop and talk, because their friends or their civilian friends don’t understand what they’re talking about.”

Dr Liz Brewster, Dr Sam Clark and Dr Brigit McWade of Lancaster University say it is vital for veterans to be able to tell their story of military experience.

“Communication between veterans is now enabled and mediated by social media, and allows older adults to find others with shared experiences more quickly and easily. Devices like the veterans’ lapel badge enable a point of contact in an isolated culture and help older adults to mitigate loneliness by starting conversations around their experiences and finding a source of pride in past experiences.”

Andy Pike, Public Policy Manager at the Royal British Legion said: “We welcome this important work being carried out by Lancaster University. Our own research has previously suggested that members of the Armed Forces community may be more vulnerable to experiencing issues of social isolation and loneliness as a result of Forces life. Lancaster University’s study provides an important new insight into how the common bonds between generations can help reduce social isolation felt by some older veterans.”