Oh, they could, it's just that they wouldn't know that they could.  People know about the Red Baron, and No Man's Land, Sergeant York, Mustard Gas, Kaiser Wilhelm, Tsar Nicholas, George V, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo .... they just don't know that those were important people or things associated with WWI.

If you ask most people, they would probably say that the Red Baron was shot down by Snoopy.

Ah well.

Could be worse, could be raining.