Casualties fluctuated considerably from year to year, but a degree of accuracy can be inferred from the fact that 500,000 was 59 percent of the 849,018 total and that 59 percent of the war's days had passed by the time of Fallaci's conversation with Giap. The officially-reported numbers and categories below cover American Vietnam War deaths by age group, branch of service, service component, type of death, reason for death, race, religion, sex, state/protectorate and deaths by war year (including post-war). For the period of the Vietnam War the totals are 1,310,000 between 1955 and 1964, 1,700,000 between 196574 and 810,000 between 1975 and 1984. [35], For official US military operations reports, there was no established distinctions between enemy KIA and civilian KIA. Five men killed in Vietnam were only 16 years old. Two further massacres were reported by soldiers who had taken part in them, one north of c Pho in, 426 killed in action, 74 died of other causes, 6 missing in action (all accounted for and repatriated), This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 15:26. 38,179 total casualties (KIA and wounded) The 1st Cavalry Division lost the most men, from Aug 1965 to Aug 1972 they had 5,444 KIA, with 26,592 wounded. Many of the refugees failed to survive the passage, facing danger from pirates, over-crowded boats, and storms. Records with Unit Information on Military Personnel Who Died During the Vietnam War . It granted him broad latitude in handling the struggle against communism in Southeast Asia. The United States Army lost the most troops in the Vietnam War, over 38,000 soldiers. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, we are losing an estimated 500 Vietnam veterans every day. 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 AIR FORCE * 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. Devon has tutored for almost two years. When reunification elections were set to start, South Vietnamese government officials refused to participate. This led to increased racial tension in the military. Calculating U.S. It was first used in 1962 and was effective at its job. The Vietnam War was fought between 1954 (following the departure of the French) through 1975, when South Vietnam surrendered to North Vietnam. [18], R. J. Rummel estimated that PAVN/VC forces killed around 164,000 civilians in democide between 1954 and 1975 in South Vietnam, from a range of between 106,000 and 227,000, plus another 50,000 killed in North Vietnam. LIFE magazine, June 27, 1969, featuring a portrait of U.S. Army specialist William C. Gearing, Jr., one of 242 American servicemen killed in a single week of fighting during the Vietnam War. Ordering Information for Electronic Records. 20% of black males were combat soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines. in Social Studies Education. From 1965 to 1975, nearly 500,000 Marines served in Southeast Asia. Using the university's mainframe computers to read the reel-to-reel computer tapes, Tom integrated the two databases and converted the information into a commonly used small-computer format. [25], Operating under the direction of the CIA and other US and South Vietnamese Intel organizations and carried out by ARVN units alongside US advisers was the Phoenix Program, intended to neutralise the VC political infrastructure, whom were the civilian administration of the Viet Cong/Provisional Revolutionary Government via infiltration, capture, counter-terrorism, interrogation, and assassination. In addition to patrolling, Navy PBRs participated with . There was strong pressure to produce body counts as a measure of operational success and enemy body counts were directly tied to promotions and commendation. Trade between the two nations ultimately resumed in the 1990s. 2,594,000 personnel served within the borders of South Vietnam. non-hostile occurrence or who were missing in action or prisoners of war in the Southeast Asian combat area during the Vietnam War, including casualties that occurred in Cambodia, China, Laos, North Vietnam, South Vietnam, and Thailand. Panama . [75], The PAVN/VC forces suffered around 600,000 wounded during the war,[76] and prior to the 1975 spring offensive, lost at least 26,880 soldiers taken prisoner - being released after the 1973 Peace Accords. Fighting continued on a lesser scale for some time afterwards and refugee numbers rose sharply due to the continued conflict, but the development of a strong trading market in the 80s helped the nation become more unified. A Korean War era soldier and later an attorney in Hays, Kansas, Richard became aware that the government had not made public a central source of information regarding the servicemen and women who died as a result of service in Vietnam. Since body counts were a direct measure of operational success, US "operations reports" often listed civilian deaths as enemy KIA or exaggerated the number. However, side effects occurred because of Agent Orange. [8], Lewy estimates that 40,000 South Vietnamese civilians were assassinated by the PAVN/VC; 300,000 were killed as a result of combat in South Vietnam, and 65,000 were killed in North Vietnam for a total of 405,000 killed. [3], A 1995 demographic study in Population and Development Review calculated 791,0001,141,000 war-related Vietnamese deaths, both soldiers and civilians, for all of Vietnam from 196575. Data for this series of conflicts includes military personnel killed in the attacks on the USS Cole on October 12, 2000, the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, and in Afghanistan and elsewhere since those dates. [95] Of the 27 million draft-age men between 1964 and 1973, 40% were drafted into military service, and only 10% were actually sent to Vietnam. His estimate of total deaths is reflected in the table. Data for deaths in Laos is incomplete. 7. Despite the loss of members of the unit on that day and one later in the week, Don praised the unit's overall performance. Civilian deaths were partly caused by assassinations, massacres, and terror tactics. [95][96], The number of US military personnel in Vietnam jumped from 23,300 in 1965 to 465,600 by the end of 1967. 11,465 of those killed were younger than 20 years old. Since 1941 Congress has declared war only six times, all during World War II. Joseph L. Rhodes, 22, Marines, L. The Fall of Saigon in 1975 | Vietnam War Timeline, Causes & Aftermath, Battle of Ia Drang | Battle of Ia Drang Casualty List, Easter Offensive of 1972: Vietnam War | History, Impact & Aftermath. The names of those who gave their lives and of those who remain missing are inscribed in the order they . Vancouver's Rob McSorley is one of at least 134 Canadians killed in action fighting for U.S. forces during the Vietnam War. Ho Chi Minh created the Viet Cong as a resistance force to French democracy. It is suspected that over 1.2 million of these deaths were murders. Veterans were viewed negatively for their participation in the war, even if it was not by their choice to do so. Grenada (1983) 3. Updates? American Foreign Policy in the First Indochina War. They have a Bachelor's in Air Traffic Management from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and minored in Aviation Safety and Homeland Security. Based on unit surveys, . American civilians were not killed in the Vietnam War. Its like a teacher waved a magic wand and did the work for me. The earliest casualty record contains a date of death of . * During January 1973, 29 Americans died in Vietnam--19 as a result of hostile action. ", 1915 to 1917 infantry regiments grew from 959 to 3,720 men and 112 officers. [70], RJ Rummel estimates 1,011,000 PAVN/VC combatant deaths. 15. Major Bruce Crandall made over 20 flights into intense enemy fire during a battle in the Ia Drang Valley, South Vietnam, in November 1965, evacuating 70 wounded and delivering ammunition. In 1995 Vietnam . [50][51] South Korean Marines reportedly perpetrated the H My massacre on 25 February 1968. [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. The United States provided funding and troops to the South Vietnamese effort to prevent Communism from spreading further in East Asia. Commander George L. Jackson said, "In response to this criticism, the Department of Defense took steps to readjust force levels in order to achieve an equitable proportion and employment of Negroes in Vietnam." In the midst of an intense 3-week fight against the North Vietnamese Army in the province of Kontum, South Vietnam, elements of the U.S. Army 173d Airborne Brigade and the 503d Infantry Regiment assaulted a battalion of North Vietnamese soldiers entrenched on a hill outside the village . In just 30 minutes, they had 30 casualties. The following is a chart of all casualties, listed by race, and in descending order. A casualty is just a soldier who is no longer available for the immediate battle or campaign, the major consideration in combat. She has an M.S.Ed. Another potential limitation is the relatively small sample size of the study. Civilian deaths were also caused by mortar and artillery, extensive aerial bombing and the use of firepower in military operations conducted in heavily populated areas. Other Deaths (In Theater) 2,835 Other Deaths in Service (Non-Theater) 17,672 Non-mortal Woundings 103,284 Living Veterans 1,165,000 Vietnam War (1964-1975) Total U.S. Servicemembers (Worldwide)6 8,744,000 Deployed to Southeast Asia 7 3,403,000 Battle Deaths 8 47,434 Other Deaths (In Theater)8 10,786 Other Deaths in Service (Non-Theater)8 32,000 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. Omissions? By 1944, the French were still occupying Vietnam, even though they continued to wage battle in Europe as the end of World War II drew near. All written content, illustrations, and photography are unique to this website (unless where indicated) and not for reuse/reproduction in any form. In 1980 Richard set out to determine the unit of assignment for each Army soldier who died in Vietnam. The Vietnamese newspaper Nhn Dn reported in 2012 that the U.S. government was providing $41 million to the project, which aimed to reduce the contamination level in 73,000 m of soil by late 2016. The "Military Factory" name and MilitaryFactory.com logo are registered U.S. trademarks protected by all applicable domestic and international intellectual property laws. Lewy reduced the number of Viet Cong (VC) and People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) battle deaths claimed by the U.S. by 30 percent (in accordance with the opinion of United States Department of Defense officials), and assumed that one third of the reported battle deaths of the PAVN/VC may have actually been civilians. Teacher waved a magic wand and did the work for me and international intellectual property laws During World II! Passage, facing danger from pirates, over-crowded boats, and storms 30 casualties the South Vietnamese government officials to... 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