Vietnam War casualties

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"SP4 Ruediger Richter (Columbus, Georgia), 4th Bn., 503d Infantry Regiment (United States)., 173 Abn Bde (Separate), lifts his battle weary eyes to the heavens, as if to ask why? SGT. Daniel E. Spencer (Bend, Oregon) stares down at their fallen comrade. The day's battle ended, they silently await the helicopter which will evacuate their comrade from the jungle covered hills in Long Khanh Province."

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.

[edit] North Vietnam

According to the Vietnamese government, 1,100,000 North Vietnamese Army and National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam military personnel 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] Complete statistics for the 1972 bombings are unavailable. Overall figures for North Vietnamese civilian dead range from 50,000^[2] to "hundreds of thousands."^[4]

[edit] Incidents involving civilians

The Christmas bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong killed 1,300 to 1,600 civilians.^[2].

[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.

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

[edit] Specific incidents

[edit] Battles

[edit] Massacres, terrorism, and related incidents

347 to 504 Vietnam civilians were murdered by US soldiers on 16th March, 1968, in the My Lai area of South Vietnam.^{Citation needed}

2800 to 6000 civilians were executed by the National Liberation Front in the city of Hue during the Tet Offensive.^{Citation needed}

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

Casualites 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]

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 1159 at [3] broken down as:

• A)Note: reports 441 are to be accounted for
• B)Note: reports 185 are to be accounted for
• C)Note: reports 313 are to be accounted for
• D)Note: reports 185 are to be accounted for
• E)Note: 1 MIA C.G. remains found 2002 and Identifed 2005. C.G. casualty total can be found at [4].
• F)Note: reports 35 to be accounted for.

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

• Vietnam: original missing-1,978 of whom 630 are repartriated/identifed and 1,348 missing {Note:611 missing are reported as not recoverable}
• Laos: original missing-573 of whom 227 are repartriated/identifed and 346 missing
• Cambodia: original missing-85 of whom 29 are repartiated/identifed and 29 missing
• China: original missing-10 of whom 3 are repartiated/idenfifed and 7 are missing

[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 POW seized
  • December 26, 1961 - George F. Fryett was the first seized POW, he was released in June 1962.
• Last POW seized
  • January 27, 1973 - Phillip A. Kientzler was the last POW to be seized, he was released March 27, 1973.
• Longest held POW
  • 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 POW, he is the longest held POW of the Vietnam war and longest held POW in the United States history.
• Second Longest held POW
  • 8 years, 7 months-Everett Alvarez Jr. was captured on August 5, 1964 and released February 12, 1973.

[edit] South Korea

• ~4,900 KIA

[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

[edit] Soviet Union

16 killed or dead

[edit] Philippines

• 9 KIA

[edit] Thailand

• 351 KIA

[edit] Australia

• 436 KIA, 64 died of other causes^[13]
• 6 MIA (3 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