Vietnam War casualties

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The Vietnam War began in 1959 and did not end until 1975. By then, it had escalated from an insurgency in South Vietnam sponsored by the North Vietnamese government to a direct military intervention in the south by North Vietnam and the United States and its allies as well as to warfare in the surrounding countries of Cambodia and Laos. Accordingly, an exhaustive reckoning of the casualties incurred as a result of the war must take into account statistical information available for each theater of the conflict.

Contents 1 North Vietnam 2 South Vietnam 2.1 Specific incidents 2.1.1 Massacres, terrorism, and related incidents 3 United States Armed Forces 3.1 By Service Branch 3.2 By Year 3.3 By Ethnic Group 3.4 By Enlistment 3.5 First and last US Casualties 3.6 Prisoners of War 4 South Korea 5 North Korea 6 China 7 Soviet Union 8 Philippines 9 Thailand 10 Australia 11 New Zealand 12 External links 13 References

[edit] North Vietnam

According to the Vietnamese government, 1,100,000 Vietnam People's Army and National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam military personnel and 2,000,000 Vietnamese civilians on both sides died in the conflict.^[1] (Technically, some of these dead were South Vietnamese members of the NLF, but it would be impossible to separate their constituency from the total.) Estimates of civilian deaths caused by American bombing in Operation Rolling Thunder range from 52,000^[2] to 182,000.^[3] Although most researchers of war history puts the civilian toll closer to 4 million^{[citation needed]}. Complete statistics for the 1972 bombings are unavailable. Overall figures for North Vietnamese civilian dead range from 50,000^[2] to "several million."^[4]

[edit] South Vietnam

The Army of the Republic of Vietnam ARVN lost approximately 184,000 servicemen during the war,^[2] with some estimates as high as a quarter of a million.^[5] Because it was the country most devastated by the war, South Vietnam suffered the bulk of the estimated 500,000^[6] to 2,000,000^[1] civilian deaths sustained by the entire Vietnamese population during the conflict; out of a possible median of 1,200,000 dead for the whole country,^[6] considering the above figures for North Vietnamese losses, in South Vietnam itself about one million civilians likely died.

South Vietnamese military deaths

Year	Regular	RF/PF	Para	Total
1966	4,418	7,535	-	11,953
1967	6,110	6,606	-	12,716
1968	12,930	11,393	3,592	27,915
1969	8,652	10,286	2,895	21,833
1970	9,647	11,738	1,961	23,346
1971	8,864	13,118	756	22,738
1972	38,697		890	39,587

RF/PF=Regional Force/Popular Force militia, Para=paramilitary forces

[edit] Specific incidents

[edit] Massacres, terrorism, and related incidents

347 to 504 Vietnam civilians were killed by US soldiers on 16 March, 1968, in the My Lai area of South Vietnam. See My Lai Massacre.

2800 to 6000 civilians were executed by the National Liberation Front in the city of Hue during the Tet Offensive.^{[citation needed]} See Hue Massacre.

At least 5,000 civilians were killed by the American military in Operation Speedy Express.^[7]

155,000 civilians disappeared on the way to Tuy-Hoa while fleeing a North Vietnamese offensive in 1975.^[8]

[edit] United States Armed Forces

Casualties as of November 7 2001:

• 58,209 KIA and other dead^[9]
• 303,635 WIA (including 153,303 who required hospitalization and 150,332 who didn't)^[10]
• 1,948 MIA^[11]

[edit] By Service Branch

Country	Branch of service	Number serving Worldwide	Number serving Southeast Asia	Number serving South Vietnam	Killed	Wounded	Missing
USA[3]	Army	4,368,000	2,276,000	1,736,000	38,218	96,802	558 {A}
	Marines	794,000	513,000	391,000	14,840	51,392	213{B}
	Navy	1,842,000	229,000	174,000	2,565	4,178	369{C}
	Air Force	1,740,000	385,000	293,000	2,587	1,021	566 {D}
	Coast Guard				7	59	0 {E}
	Civilians				19		34 {F}
	Total	8,744,000	3,403,000	2,594,000	58,228	153,452	1,740

Note: Footnote # 1 gives breakdown of Casualty by Branch of service as follows: Army-38,209; Marines-14,838; Navy-2,555; Air Force-2,584; Coast Guard-7. Total:58,193. As of 12/1998
Note: PMSA {Personnel Missing Southeast ASia} website lists 1,740 at [4] broken down as of May 2009:

• A)Note: PMSA reports 558 to be accounted for {278 KIA/BNR; 22 POWS died/not returned; 258 presumed dead}. PMSA reports 1 AWOL/deserter returned; 13 POw died/returned; 171 remains returned; 17 escaped; 122 POWs returned.
• B)Note: reports 213 are to be accounted for. {130 KIA/BNR; 2 POW/NR; 81 presumed dead}.PMSA reports 1 AWOL/deserter returned; 7 POWS died/returned; 82 remains returned; 10 POws escaped; 28 POWS returned
• C)Note: PMSA reports 369 to be accounted for {281 KIA/BNR; 88 presumed dead}. PMSA reports 2 escaped; 10 POWS died/remains returned; 161 remains/returned; 149 POWS returned
• D)Note: PMSA reports 566 to be accounted for {193 KIA/BNR; 5 POW/NR; 368 presumed dead}; PMSA also reports of 784 POWS-1 escaped; 15 POWs died/remains returned; 436 remains returned/recovered; 332 POWS returned
• E)Note: 1 MIA C.G. remains found 2002 and Identified 2005. C.G. casualty total can be found at [5].
• F)Note: PMSA reports 34 to be accounted for. {4 KIA/BNR; 5 POW/NR; 11 MIA; 8 POWS; 6 presumed dead} PMSA also reports 5 POWS escaped; 4 POWs died/remains returned; 15 remains returned; 54 POWs returned}

Note: as of July 4, 2008 the following ^[12] gives the following report of 2,646 missing and 889 repartriated/identified for the Vietnam conflict:

• Vietnam: original missing-1,978 of whom 630 are repartriated/identified and 1,348 missing {Note:611 missing are reported as not recoverable}
• Laos: original missing-573 of whom 227 are repartriated/identified and 346 missing
• Cambodia: original missing-85 of whom 29 are repartiated/identified and 29 missing
• China: original missing-10 of whom 3 are repartiated/idenfifed and 7 are missing
• Note as May 2009 PMSA includes in each service branch of Vietnam Conflict fatalities "country Not Listed": US Army 27; USMC 8; US Navy 17; Civilians 6.
• As of May 2009 PMSA reports 915 remains returned-184 {US Army} 451 {USAF} 171 {US Navy} 89 {USMC} 1 {Coast Guard} 19 {Civilians}

[edit] By Year

Country	Year of Death	Number Killed
USA[6]
	1956-1964	401
	1965	1,863
	1966	6,143
	1967	11,153
	1968	16,592
	1969	11,616
	1970	6,081
	1971	2,357
	1972	641
	1973	168
	1974-1998	1178

[edit] By Ethnic Group

Ethnic Group	Number Killed
White	49,802
Black	7,241
Hispanics	349
Pacific Islanders and Native Hawaiians	229
Native Americans	226
More than one Race or Unknown	204
Asians	139

[edit] By Enlistment

Enlistment	Number Killed
Volunteer	40,484
Draftees	17,725

[edit] First and last US Casualties

• {First casualties-1945; 1954; 1956, 1957; 1959}:
  • 26 September 1945-OSS Lt. Col. A. Peter Dewey killed in Vietnam.
  • 6 May 1954—CIA pilot James 'Earthquake McGoon' McGovern and co-pilot Wallace Buford killed in Laos.
  • June 8, 1956 - The first official death in Viet-Nam is U.S. Air Force Technical Sergeant Richard B. Fitzgibbon, Jr. of Stoneham, MA who was killed by another U.S. airman
  • 21 October 1957-Captain Harry Cramer killed in Vietnam
  • 8 July 1959-Major Dale R. Buis and M/Sgt Charles Ovnand {Chester Melvin Ovnand} killed by sniper; first and second names listed on Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
  • 22 December 1961-SP4 James Thomas Davis, 3d Radio Research Unit, killed in an ambush in Vietnam, The Wall: Panel 01E - Row 004
• {Last casualties-1975}:
  • 29 April 1975-US Marine Embassy Guards McMahon and Judge killed. {Corporal Charles McMahon & Lance Corporal Darwin L. Judge}
  • 12–30 May 1975—41 US servicemen killed and 41 servicemen wounded during the Mayaguez Incident in Democratic Kampuchea.

[edit] Prisoners of War

• First P.O.W seized
  • December 26, 1961 - George F. Fryett was the first seized P.O.W, he was released in June 1962.
• Last P.O.W seized
  • January 27, 1973 - Phillip A. Kientzler was the last P.O.W to be seized, he was released March 27, 1973.
• Longest held P.O.W
  • 8 years, 355 days - Floyd James Thompson was captured on March 26, 1964 and released March 16, 1973. Spent 10 days short of 9 years as a P.O.W, he is the longest held POW of the Vietnam war and longest held POW in the United States history.
• Second Longest held P.O.W
  • 8 years, 7 months - Everett Alvarez Jr. was captured on August 5, 1964 and released February 12, 1973.

Most Famous P.O.W John McCain

[edit] South Korea

• ~4,900 KIA^{[citation needed]}

[edit] North Korea

According to Chinese soldiers stationed in Vietnam manning the anti-aircraft artillery next to that of the North Korean, several dozen North Korean anti-aircraft artillery crews were killed by American bombing.

[edit] China

1,446 KIA^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Soviet Union

Under 12 unaccounted for

[edit] Philippines

• 7 men KIA 2

2 men MIA^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Thailand

• 351 KIA^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Australia

• 426 KIA, 74 died of other causes^[13]
• 6 MIA (4 Accounted for and repatriated)

[edit] New Zealand

• 37 KIA + 2 Civilians

[edit] External links

• Source of the figures
• National Archives AAD Searchable database
• Casualties—US vs NVA/VC Casualty breakdown by year, province, unit.

[edit] References