The debate remains on how external events, such as life transitions, and internal psychic processes, such as identity formation, influence the recall of autobiographical memories. We investigated the role of national transition and identity in the recall of autobiographical memories by the generation of the 1971 Bangladesh War of Independence. Sixty-four male war veterans and forty-one male nonveterans recalled and dated twenty memories and completed a generational identity scale. Both groups recalled more memories from their age 11 to 20 - a reminiscence bump effect, which also coincided with the period of national transition (1969-1973) marked by Bengalis' protest movements, the war culminating in the independence of Bangladesh, and its aftermath. Veterans recalled more war and political memories from this period and referenced historically defined autobiographical periods (H-DAPs) more often than nonveterans (OR = 5.08, 95% CI [2.29, 11.28] for war memories; OR = 3.35, 95% CI [1.92, 5.83] for H-DAPs). Veterans also exhibited stronger generational identity than nonveterans. Higher generational identity scores correlated with the recollection of more war and political memories. Veterans rated their memories as more important, self-defining, and emotionally intense than nonveterans. We discussed the results in the context of the Self-Memory System and the Transition theory of autobiographical memory.