Since 1941 Congress has declared war only six times, all during World War II. [5], Uppsala University in Sweden maintains the Armed Conflict Database. He succeeded in 1954 and established a Communist government. 1. The total number of officer casualties, commissioned and warrant, are 7,877. The United States Army lost the most troops in the Vietnam War, over 38,000 soldiers. For example, during the Seven Days Battles in the American Civil War (June 25 to July 1, 1862) there were 5,228 killed, 23,824 wounded and 7,007 missing or taken prisoner for a total of 36,059 casualties. The killed in action figure comes from "Special Subject 4: The Work of Locating and Recovering the Remains of Martyrs From Now Until 2020 And Later Years," downloaded from the Vietnamese government website datafile on 1 December 2017. The Internet cannot and has not replaced on-the-spot investigation, though; in example, one member of the Coffelt Group has photographed over 80,000 documents at the LBJ and Nixon Presidential Libraries and in the National Archives. COAST GUARD *, Copyright 1997-2018 www.VirtualWall.org, Ltd (TM), Division level indexes are used for Division HQ and minor assigned unit personnel, Brigade level indexes are used for Brigade HQ and minor assigned unit personnel, Aviation Group level indexes are used for Group HQ and minor assigned unit personnel, Aviation Battalion level indexes are used for Bn HQ, minor assigned units, and Aviation Companies which stayed with a single Battalion throughout their time in Vietnam, Separate Battalion indexes are used for Battalions not assigned to a Regiment, Aviation Companies that served with two or more Aviation Battalions while in Vietnam are indexed separately. Vietnam War. Ho Chi Minh created the Viet Cong as a resistance force to French democracy. The wide disparity among the estimates cited below is partially explained by the different time periods of the Vietnam War covered by the studies and whether casualties in Cambodia and Laos were included in the estimates. The majority of these soldiers were between the ages of 21 and 28. She has an M.S.Ed. Sources: World War II Honor List of Dead and Missing, June 1946; Battle Casualties of the Army, 30 September 1954; List of Casualties Incurred by U.S. Military Personnel in Connection with the Conflict in Vietnam, 30 September 1975. Vietnam Syndrome Overview & Analysis | What is Vietnam Syndrome? [99][100] In 2012 alone, unexploded ordnance and claimed 500 casualties in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, according to activists and Vietnamese government databases. Lochren) subtracted the muster figures (262-47=215)(82.1%) and asserted that "[every one of the] 215 [missing men] lay upon the field. [55] Widespread reports of deliberate mass killings by Korean forces alleged that they were the result of systemic, deliberate policies to massacre civilians, with murders running into the hundreds. "Making More Enemies than We Kill? [66][67] After the U.S.'s withdrawal from the conflict, the Pentagon estimated PAVN/VC deaths at 39,000 in 1973 and 61,000 in 1974. 0. He received his B.A. Some Vietnam War veterans that died between 1966 and 1968 came from Los Angeles, Sacramento, Yuba City, San Diego, Santa Ana and Whittier or Stockton.. California has the highest veteran count of all the U.S. states, totaling 596,130. * The last U.S. infantry unit was pulled from the field on Aug. 11, 1972, so U.S. casualties dramatically declined. That can include disabled by injuries, disabled by psychological trauma, captured, deserted, or missing. 1975. ARMY * Search and destroy was a term to describe operations aimed at flushing the Viet Cong out of hiding, while body count was the measuring stick for operation success and this resulted in exaggeration and listing civilian deaths as enemy KIA. The Vietnam War became a painful lesson for many - from Washington, D.C. to Smalltown America. The terms of this expansion included yet more funding and arms, but a key alteration was the commitment of U.S. soldiers to the region. Chrissy has taught secondary English and history and writes online curriculum. The war was fought largely in North Vietnam and South Vietnam, though some fighting did occur in the neighboring territories of Cambodia and Laos. The war was fought on Vietnamese land, in addition to the territories of Cambodia and Laos. All written content, illustrations, and photography are unique to this website (unless where indicated) and not for reuse/reproduction in any form. Not until 1995 did Vietnam release its official estimate of war dead: as many as 2 million civilians on both sides and some 1.1 million North Vietnamese and Viet Cong fighters. Statistical Information about Fatal Casualties of the Vietnam War, Records Relating to American Prisoners of War and Missing in Action from the Vietnam War Era, 1960-1994, Electronic Data Records Relating to Military Objectives and Activities During the Vietnam War, Electronic Records of Korean and Vietnam War Casualties, How to File a FOIA Request for Archival Records, Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) Extract Files, Records on Military Personnel Who Died, Were Missing in Action or Prisoners of War as a Result of the Vietnam War, Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) Files, Records of Deceased, Wounded, Ill, or Injured Army Personnel, Including Dependents and Civilian Employees, Records with Unit Information on Military Personnel Who Died During the Vietnam War. And John Sullivan enlisted in the Navy after graduating high school and served as a second class machinist mate during the Vietnam War. [21] During the peak war years, another scholar Guenter Lewy attributed almost a third of civilian deaths to the VC. [71] The official US Department of Defense figure was 950,765 communist forces killed in Vietnam from 1965 to 1974. The numbers below are not exact, as there are still personnel who have not been identified or are identified as missing. 1st Battalion, 9th Marines. Memorial pages honoring Vietnam War casualties, listed by their last names. Answer (1 of 4): The Army lost the most which makes sense as they had the most number of soldiers serve in Vietnam. From 1965 to 1975, nearly 500,000 Marines served in Southeast Asia. [26] The program resulted in an estimated 26,000 to 41,000 killed, with an unknown number possibly being innocent civilians. After 1975. [7], R. J. Rummel's mid-range estimate in 1997 was that the total deaths due to the Vietnam War totaled 2,450,000 from 195475. Of the 7877 officer casualties, 7595 or 96.4% were white, 147 or 1.8% were black; 24 or . [64] According to the Vietnamese government, from 1994 to 2012, 172,460 PAVN/VC bodies were found, including 15,989 in Cambodia, and 14,549 in Laos, and around 10,000 bodies were found from 2012 to 2015, reducing the number of MIA from 390,000 (1993) to 207,000 (2016). "Triumph Regained: The Vietnam War, 1965-1968." The U.S. technically did not lose the Vietnam War, as they withdrew in 1973 to allow South Vietnam to fight their own battles. Called the American War in Vietnam (or, in full, the War Against the Americans to Save the Nation), the war was also part of a larger regional conflict (see Indochina wars) and a manifestation of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies. [103], On 9 August 2012, the United States and Vietnam began a cooperative cleaning up of the toxic chemical from part of Da Nang International Airport, marking the first time Washington has been involved in cleaning up Agent Orange in Vietnam. It is unknown how much aid was lost from North Vietnamese allies. . Their estimates for conflict deaths in Vietnam are 164,923 from 195564 and 1,458,050 from 196575 for a total of 1,622,973. [2], Guenter Lewy in 1978 estimated 1,353,000 total deaths in North and South Vietnam during the period 19651974 in which the U.S. was most engaged in the war. The human costs of the long conflict were harsh for all involved. According to the Vietnamese government, unexploded ordnance has killed some 42,000 people since the end of the war. 70. . This group was made up almost entirely of either working-class or rural youth. Seeing an opportunity to seize control, Ho's Viet Minh . They also assert that the U.S. overall suffered fewer casualties than its opponents. Ronald H. Spector is Professor of History and International Affairs in the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. The U.S. military has estimated that between 200,000 and 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers died. Its like a teacher waved a magic wand and did the work for me. [70], RJ Rummel estimates 1,011,000 PAVN/VC combatant deaths. South Vietnam supplied a total of 942,000 troops. [11][12][13][14] It was difficult to distinguish between civilians and military personnel in many instances as many individuals were part-time guerrillas or impressed laborers who did not wear uniforms. According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, between 200,000 and 400,000 boat people died at sea. Around 3.8 million casualties were suffered in total between both sides, with nearly half being civilian deaths. A casualty is just a soldier who is no longer available for the immediate battle or campaign, the major consideration in combat. One study estimated that American commanders exaggerated body counts by 100 percent. 232,000 military personnel were still missing as of 2017, a total of 1,081,000 dead and missing for the American War. Regarding killed in action the 1st Marine Division was the unit with the highest . The United States entered Vietnam with the principal purpose of preventing a communist takeover of the region. Of the 4953 Navy and Air Force casualties, both officer and enlisted, 4, 736 or 96% were white. The number of casualties is simply the number of members of a unit who are not available for duty. [26], RJ Rummel estimated that American forces killed around 5,500 people in democide between 1960 and 1972, from a range of between 4,000 and 10,000. We do not sell any of the items showcased on this site. Others are still yet to be discovered and over 1,200 Americans are still unaccounted for. The U.S. military has estimated that between 200,000 and 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers died in the war. This is also the main reason that soldiers in Vietnam saw more action than those soldiers of preceding wars. 7,484 women served in Vietnam, of whom 6,250 or 83.5% were nurses. Nick Turse, in his 2013 book, Kill Anything that Moves, argues that a relentless drive toward higher body counts, a widespread use of free-fire zones, rules of engagement where civilians who ran from soldiers or helicopters could be viewed as VC, and a widespread disdain for Vietnamese civilians led to massive civilian casualties and endemic war crimes inflicted by U.S. KIA - Killed in Action WIA - Wounded in Action. Aid sent from other nations to the South Vietnamese effort waged about 5,000 total deaths. Not all of these were military personnel; nearly half of the deaths of the Vietnam War were the deaths of civilians caught in the fighting. [53][54] A separate study was carried out by RAND Corporation employee Terry Rambo, who conducted interviews in 1970 on reported Korean atrocities in ARVN/civilian areas. In addition, at least 36,000 Southern civilians were executed for various reasons in the period 19671972. Approximately 8,000 Coast Guardsmen served in Vietnam - but our legacy does not stop there. The Vietnam War death toll is estimated to be around 3.8 million casualties in total. The above figures on missing and wounded were calculated using Hanoi's declared casualty ratios for the period of 1945 to 1979, during which time the Communists incurred 1.1 million killed, 300,000 missing, and 600,000 wounded. The Vietnam War was a long, deadly . On February 26, 2007, President George W. Bush presented Crandall with the Medal of Honor for . Colonial France inhabited Vietnam through the end of World War II. In 1993-94, after PCs had become commonplace, Tom Holloway (Emory University, Atlanta) changed the landscape by obtaining the Department of Defense's casualty database and the Army Adjutant General's database in digital form. The dates of death . The Vietnam War became a painful lesson for many - from Washington, D.C. to Smalltown America. Numbers certainly do not tell the whole story - or all of them - but they certainly paint a picture of lives lost and families devastated. 7. In the United States, the Vietnam War became known as one of the most unpopular wars . Back in the US, support for the war waned and calls to withdraw from Vietnam grew louder. In the United States, the Vietnam War became known as one of the most unpopular wars that the nation had ever been involved in. but not without Marine and U.S. Air Force casualties. PAVN and VC losses were reported as 1.1 million dead and civilian deaths of Vietnamese on both sides totaled 2.0 million. The majority of the remaining number of casualties were Vietnamese. [46], The ROK Capital Division reportedly perpetrated the Bnh An/Ty Vinh massacre in February/March 1966. We searched NARA's Access to Archival Databases (AAD) and located the following databases pertaining to Vietnam War casualties: Records with Unit Information on Military Personnel Who Died During the Vietnam War database in the Richard Coffelt, Richard Arnold, and David Argabright Collection (COFF) Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File of the . United States, National Archives, Korean War and Vietnam War Records; United States Vietnam War 1964 to 1972; Related Websites: NARA Series Description; NARA Reference Information Paper 90 Prisoners of War and Missing in Action from the Vietnam War Era; NARA State-Level Fatal Casualty Lists for the Vietnam War In general we index the memorials at the lowest practical unit level. Battle of Hamburger Hill. Vietnam War Casualties, MIA and POWs. Johnson raised the number of South Vietnam deployments to 23,000 U.S. soldiers by the end of his first year in office. Other nations such as Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and the Philippines provided a limited number of troops to South Vietnamese forces. Kennedys expansion stemmed in part from Cold War-era fears about the domino theory: if communism took hold in Vietnam, it would topple democracies throughout the whole of Southeast Asia, it was thought. 62. He was not killed in action but murdered by another U.S. airman and later died of his wounds on 8 June, 1956. Of the 2.6 million, between 1 and 1.6 million (40-60%) either fought in. The government of Vietnam says that 4 million of its citizens were exposed to Agent Orange, and as many as 3 million have suffered illnesses because of it; these figures include the children of people who were exposed. Records with Unit Information on Military Personnel Who Died During the Vietnam War . Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History. copyright 2003-2023 Study.com. Encounter Books, December 2022. The forces involved in this war (by the conclusion of the war) included: The war was fought in dense jungle terrain, so the American military developed a chemical solution known as Agent Orange to burn through the brush and lure out the hiding Viet Cong forces. Vietnam War: 1964-1973: 58,220: 153,303: 5,283: 1:2.6: 1:29.0 (0.03) Persian Gulf War: The U.S. Constitution grants Congress sole authority to issue declarations of war. Who had the highest casualty rates in the Vietnam War? Following the end of French colonial rule in 1954 and break-up of the former French Indochina, the United States assumed the political mentorship and primary . * During January 1973, 29 Americans died in Vietnam--19 as a result of hostile action. [22], Thomas Thayer in 1985 estimated that during the 196572 period the VC killed 33,052 South Vietnamese village officials and civil servants.[23]. [2], Arapaho tribe Cheyenne tribeLakota tribes, Vichy FranceItalian Social Republic 19431945Kingdom of Italy19421943, American units with the highest percentage of casualties per conflict, US units with most casualties per conflict, Union and Confederate numbers added together, The 215 casualty figure is disputed. Battle of Hamburger Hill. [91] Around 3035% of American deaths in the war were non-combat or friendly fire deaths; the largest causes of death in the U.S. armed forces were small arms fire (31.8%), booby traps including mines and frags (27.4%), and aircraft crashes (14.7%). The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History Meanwhile, the United States, its military demoralized and its civilian electorate deeply divided, began a process of coming to terms with defeat in what had been its longest and most controversial war. Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010: see the "National Cemeteries and Beneficiaries" section below. [69], There has been considerable controversy about the exact numbers of deaths inflicted on the Communist side by U.S. and allied South Vietnamese forces. These Vietnam War photos taken by U.S. Army photographers reveal a side of the conflict that few people have ever seen. [11][23]:106 R.J. Rummel estimated that ARVN suffered between 219,000 and 313,000 deaths during the war, including in 1975 and prior to 1960. The American death toll in the Vietnam War is currently known to be 58,220. Tensions escalated into armed conflict between the two sides, and in 1961 U.S. President John F. Kennedy chose to expand the military aid program. The war persisted from 1955 to 1975 and most of the fighting took place in South Vietnam; accordingly it suffered the most casualties. Marine Corps Casualties: 1775-2015 . [62][63] Based on unit surveys, a rough estimate of 3040% of dead and missing were non-combat deaths. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, but his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, continued the work that Kennedy had started. 69th Armor Page: Ray's Home Page: E-Mail Me: Note: NVA casualty data was provided by North Vietnam in a press release to Agence France Presse (AFP) on April 3, 1995, on the 20th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. His estimate of total deaths is reflected in the table. the Vietnam War). [65], According to the Vietnamese government's official history, one of the deadliest years was 1972, where they lost over 100,000 casualties. The 'shameful gamesmanship' practiced by 'certain reporting elements' under pressure to 'produce results' also shrouded the process. Seven massacres officially confirmed by the American side. [104], Following the end of the war, many refugees fled Vietnam by boat and ship. Bomb Tonnages Dropped on Laos and Cambodia, and Weighing Their Implications", "Association between Agent Orange and birth defects: systematic review and meta-analysis", "The History, Toxicity and Adverse Human Health and Environmental Effects Related to the Use of Agent Orange", http://ls-tlss.ucl.ac.uk/course-materials/POLS6016_65225, Story of Tiger Force atrocities had to be told, "On War extra Vietnam's massacre survivors", Counter-Revolutionary Violence: Bloodbaths in Fact & Propaganda, "Anatomy of US and South Korean Massacres in the Vietnamese Year of the Monkey, 1968 | Japan Focus", "VIETNAM KILLINGS LAID TO KOREANS (Published 1970)", "The 'forgotten' My Lai: South Korea's Vietnam War massacres", "Citizens' court to investigate Vietnam War atrocities committed by South Korean troops", "Chuyn 4 CNG TC TM KIM, QUY TP HI CT LIT S T NAY N NM 2020 V NHNG NM TIP THEO, datafile.chinhsachquandoi.gov.vn/Qun%20l%20ch%20o/Chuyn%20%204.doc", "Lost Souls: The Search for Vietnam's 300,000 or More MIAs", 300.000 lit s cha xc nh danh tnh l ni trn tr ln, "North Vietnamese Army's 1972 Eastertide Offensive", i tng V Nguyn Gip vi cng tc hu cn qun i, "2021 NAME ADDITIONS AND STATUS CHANGES ON THE VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL", "US Military Operations: Casualty Breakdown", "Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency Vietnam (PMSEA) Report for CIVILIAN (Unaccounted For)", "Capture Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency Vietnam (PMSEA) Report for CIVILIAN (Accounted For Identified Since 1973)", "Vietnam-era unaccounted for statistical report", "Vietnam Prisoners of War Escapes and Attempts", http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/vietnam/reports/pmsea_escapee.pdf, "Vietnam War U.S. Military Fatal Casualty Statistics", "Learning from America's Wars, Past and Present U.S. Battlefield Medicine Has Come a Long Way, from Antietam to Iraq", "African-Americans In Combat | History Detectives | PBS", "Vietnam War Bomb Explodes Killing Four Children", Vietnam: Report Details Unexploded Ordnance, "Vietnam War Bombs Still Killing People 40 Years Later", "U.S. in first effort to clean up Agent Orange in Vietnam", "U.S. starts its first Agent Orange cleanup in Vietnam", "After the Nightmare: The Population of Cambodia", "KOREA military army official statistics, AUG 28, 2005", "Australian servicemen listed as missing in action in Vietnam", https://books.google.com/books?id=qh5lffww-KsC&lpg=PA53&dq=the%20encyclopedia%20of%20the%20vietnam%20war%20page%2064&pg=PA176&output=embed, "POW Remembers McCain and Tapping Through Walls in Hanoi Prison", "New Zealand Rolls Of Honour By Conflict", "Overview of the war in Vietnam | VietnamWar.govt.nz, New Zealand and the Vietnam War", "America Wasn't the only Foreign Power in the Vietnam War", "Vietnam Reds to hold 17 From Taiwan as Spies", https://kienthuc.net.vn/quan-su/nhung-chuyen-gia-quan-su-lien-xo-trong-khang-chien-chong-my-1796800.html, Vietnamese Casualties During the American war, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vietnam_War_casualties&oldid=1142285241, includes an estimated 50,000/65,000/70,000 civilians killed by U.S/SVN bombing/shelling, includes 360,000/391,000/720,000 civilians, 25,000/50,000/75,000 killed in North Vietnam, 106,000/164,000/227,000 killed in South Vietnam. 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