Based on unit surveys, . [5], In 1995, the Vietnamese government released its estimate of war deaths for the more lengthy period of 195575. in Social Studies Education. Specialized units such as the SeaBees, Scout Dog and Combat Tracker units, Navy SEAL/UDT, etc., usually are indexed under the next higher command. . I feel like its a lifeline. Over 58,000 American troops were killed in Vietnam, with more still not identified. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, we are losing an estimated 500 Vietnam veterans every day. Operation Rolling Thunder History & Facts | What Was Operation Rolling Thunder? This resulted in a dramatic decrease in the proportion of black casualties, and by late 1967, black casualties had fallen to 13%, and were below 10% in 1970 to 1972. He estimated that victims of democide (deliberate killing of civilians) included 214,000 by North Vietnam/VC and 98,000 by South Vietnam and its allies. [46], The ROK Capital Division reportedly perpetrated the Bnh An/Ty Vinh massacre in February/March 1966. 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. Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, gives a 1513 reference for military casualty, and an 1844 reference for civilian use. 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. 49. From a Marine second lieutenant in New Jersey who commanded a rifle platoon in Vietnam. They also are AT-CTI certified. Per war: 191,605 deaths in the First Indochina War, 849,018 deaths in the Second Indochina War (Vietnam War), and 105,627 deaths in the Third Indochina War. Answer (1 of 3): !st Cavalry Division KIA - 5,444 WIA - 26,592 Total Casualties - 32,036 The First Team was in VN from Aug 1965 until Aug 1972 Per: Willbanks, James H. (2013). 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). Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. [65], According to the Vietnamese government's official history, one of the deadliest years was 1972, where they lost over 100,000 casualties. My Lai (4) and My Khe (4) (collectively the My Lai Massacre) claimed the largest number of victims with 420 and 90 respectively, and in five other places a total of about 100 civilians were executed. Morning muster on July 2 for the eight companies (A,B,D,E,G,H,I & K) involved in the suicidal attack was 262, and evening muster on the same day was 47. [48] In December 1966, the Blue Dragon Brigade reportedly perpetrated the Bnh Ha massacre. In general, DD1300, DA2496, and DD1330 photographs are copyrighted and should not be copied. It is still a concern in Southeast Asia today. A. 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 Five men killed in Vietnam were only 16 years old. 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. American Greatness, by Victor Davis Hanson Original Article. A mass exodus in 1975 of people loyal to the South Vietnamese cause was followed by another wave in 1978 of boat people, refugees fleeing the economic restructuring imposed by the communist regime. Vietnam emerged from the war as a potent military power within Southeast Asia, but its agriculture, business, and industry were disrupted, large parts of its countryside were scarred by bombs and defoliation and laced with land mines, and its cities and towns were heavily damaged. It was first used in 1962 and was effective at its job. | 9 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. Casualty Data For The Vietnam War. This prompted the official start of the Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War. [101], Agent Orange and similar chemical defoliants have also caused a considerable number of deaths and injuries over the years, including among the US Air Force crew that handled them. 1968 Tet Offensive - Hanoi failed in its most ambitious goal of producing a general uprising in the South, it suffered more than 45,267 (mainly Viet Cong) deaths but gained a propaganda, political and strategic victory. On February 26, 2007, President George W. Bush presented Crandall with the Medal of Honor for . However, from a constitutional perspective, this conflict did not technically count as a war. PAVN and VC losses were reported as 1.1 million dead and civilian deaths of Vietnamese on both sides totaled 2.0 million. More than 58,000 American casualties of the Vietnam War are commemorated on the Vietnam Wall in Washington, DC. The Geneva conference established a treaty that split the nation of Vietnam in half for the time being, with reunification elections set to be held in 1956. Many were never directly involved in the fighting, but rather were only caught in the crosshairs of South Vietnamese and North Vietnamese forces. Army Battle Casualties and Nonbattle Deaths (Statistical and Accounting Branch, Office of the Adjutant General), 1 June 1953, 1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Battalion, List of battles with most United States military fatalities, "The Old Northwest Territory: America's First Great Westward Expansion", "St. Clair's Campaign of 1791: A Defeat in the Wilderness That Helped Forge Today's U.S. Army", http://www.gdg.org/Research/MOLLUS/mollus7.html, "Chapter 3: The Siege and Capture of Corregidor", "Department of the Army, Lineage and Honors, 1st Battalion 75th Ranger Regiment", "The Korean War. As this was two years before the IBM PC (personal computer) came on the market, the work necessarily was done the old-fashioned way: by library research, travel, and in hand-writing. American civilians were not killed in the Vietnam War. [35], For official US military operations reports, there was no established distinctions between enemy KIA and civilian KIA. Not all mines were detonated during the war and as a result they are still being either dug up or mistakenly stepped on today. Last combat unit departs Vietnam ending the ground war August 11, 1972. . Vietnam War Almanac: An In-Depth Guide to the Most Controversial Conflict in American History. 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. Vietnamese soldiers and an unknown number of civilian casualties in South and North Vietnam (Browne 1994: 1). Defense Department officials believed that these body count figures need to be deflated by 30 percent. The U.S. military has estimated that between 200,000 and 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers died. And John Sullivan enlisted in the Navy after graduating high school and served as a second class machinist mate during the Vietnam War. A number of incidents occurred during the war in which civilians were deliberately targeted or killed. * The 143 men subsequently declared dead between 1973 and 2002 are not included in these totals. KIA - Killed in Action WIA - Wounded in Action. Revolutionary War. According to a 2009 study, one third of land in the central provinces of Vietnam is still contaminated with unexploded mines and ordnance. [79], The total number of American personnel who were KIA or died non-hostile deaths, were enlisted personnel with a casualty number of 50,441. In 1968 US soldiers murdered several hundred Vietnamese civilians in the single . According to statistics from the South Vietnamese Ministry of Health, 44.5% of civilians admitted to hospitals between 1967 and 1970 were wounded by mines or mortars, 21.2% by guns or grenades, and 34.3% by artillery or bombing. 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. In 2002, an early version of the Coffelt Database was deeded to the National Archives, which made it available on-line as a searchable database. 13,091. Omissions? [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. combat, provided close combat support or were at least fairly regularly. The battle was later dramatized in the film We Were Soldiers. The Virtual Wall uses the Coffelt Database (CDB) for unit assignment information. In late 2006, the project scope was extended further by including circumstances of death information in the Coffelt Database - the "how and where" of their deaths. The Vietnam War was fought in Vietnamese territory between mainly South Vietnam/the United States and the Viet Cong of North Vietnam. Village battles were not uncommon as the two factions fought for control of the region. lessons in math, English, science, history, and more. In 1995 Vietnam released its official estimate of the number of people killed during the Vietnam War: as many as 2,000,000 civilians on both sides and some 1,100,000 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong fighters. 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." 7,484 women served in Vietnam, of whom 6,250 or 83.5% were nurses. Deaths in the Vietnam War. Create your account. The majority of these soldiers were between the ages of 21 and 28. This totals, from a range of between 16,000 and 167,000 deaths caused by South Vietnam during the (Dim-era), and 42,000 and 118,000 deaths caused by South Vietnam in the post Dim-era), excluding PAVN forces killed by the ARVN in combat. 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. [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). In that respect, it failed: the two Vietnams were united under a communist banner in July 1976. Rummel calculated PAVN/VC deaths at 1,062,000 and ARVN and allied war deaths of 741,000, with both totals including civilians inadvertently killed. [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. [citation needed] Black people often made up a disproportionate 25% or more of combat units, while constituting only 12% of the military. SOG had a casualty rate of 100 percenteveryone who served in SOG was either wounded, most multiple times, or . These estimates probably include deaths of Vietnamese soldiers in Laos and Cambodia, but do not include deaths of South Vietnamese and allied soldiers which would add nearly 300,000 for a grand total of 3.4 million military and civilian dead. North Vietnam and the United States reached a peace agreement shortly after withdrawal. flashcard sets. It is unknown how much aid was lost from North Vietnamese allies. 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 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. Of the 4953 Navy and Air Force casualties, both officer and enlisted, 4, 736 or 96% were white. MARINE CORPS * Index of Vietnam War Casualties by Unit of Assignment. 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. 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. Vietnam War Casualties, MIA and POWs. 20% of black males were combat soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines. The United States also reduced support troops, and in March 1971 the 5th Special Forces Group, the first American unit deployed to South Vietnam, withdrew to Fort Bragg, . In the late 1990s, others joined Richard's effort, contributing information and collating the collected material into digital form using the Holloway database as a baseline. * During January 1973, 29 Americans died in Vietnam--19 as a result of hostile action. These soldiers were between the ages of 21 and 28 hostile Action up or mistakenly on. George W. Bush presented Crandall with the Medal of Honor for of incidents occurred during the War!, it failed: the two factions fought for control of the Vietnam War Almanac: an Guide. 143 men subsequently declared dead between 1973 and 2002 are not included in these totals mines were detonated during War! 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