An error occurred trying to load this video. 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. The Vietnam War was a costly conflict between all sides from both a financial and military perspective. 62. One escapee died of wounds sustained during his rescue 15 days later. This is also the main reason that soldiers in Vietnam saw more action than those soldiers of preceding wars. (deaths in afghan war Afghanistan war casualties). The war was fought largely in North Vietnam and South Vietnam, though some fighting did occur in the neighboring territories of Cambodia and Laos. I had just returned from Iraq and was working with Vietnam veterans who'd served in . American civilians were not killed in the Vietnam War. The following general rules are observed: (2) AVIATION UNIT PERSONNEL in the Navy, Marines, and Air Force are indexed at the, (3) NAVAL PERSONNEL, other than aviation personnel, are indexed by, * * During January 1973, 29 Americans died in Vietnam--19 as a result of hostile action. The number of casualties is simply the number of members of a unit who are not available for duty. 7. 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. [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. We do not sell any of the items showcased on this site. The United States has spent over $65 million since 1998 as part of unexploded ordnance clearing operations. [55] These policies were also reported on by US commanders, with one US Marine General stating "whenever the Korean marines received fire "or think [they got] fired on from a village they'd divert from their march and go over and completely level the village it would be a lesson to (the Vietnamese). According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, we are losing an estimated 500 Vietnam veterans every day. but not without Marine and U.S. Air Force casualties. Aid sent from other nations to the South Vietnamese effort waged about 5,000 total deaths. U.S. military advisers, present in small numbers throughout the 1950s, were introduced on a large scale beginning in 1961, and active combat units were introduced in 1965. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. [104], Following the end of the war, many refugees fled Vietnam by boat and ship. It's a sober fact we're meant to be reminded of on Memorial Day, particularly in light of the nearly 7,000 U.S. troops killed, and the many more wounded, over the last decade in our most recent and ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The database also estimates combat deaths in Cambodia for the years 196775 to total 259,000. In the summer of 2017, I was a U.S. Army lieutenant in the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. [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). 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. Sometimes, the casualty rate is disproportionately high. It is unknown how much aid was lost from North Vietnamese allies. [19], Other casualties for the ARVN included up to 1,170,000 military wounded,[59] and 1,000,000 surrendered or captured. in Social Studies Education. Around 2 million civilians were killed in the territories of North and South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. 2.7 million American troops were sent to South Vietnam. Many deaths, however, were not completely targeted as they were the result of chance, being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union and China poured weapons, supplies, and advisers into the North, which in turn provided support, political direction, and regular combat troops for the campaign in the South. Political turbulence there and two alleged North Vietnamese attacks on U.S. naval vessels spurred Johnson to demand the passage of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1964. Civilian deaths are still ongoing because of the use of unexploded ordnances left behind from the war. In that respect, it failed: the two Vietnams were united under a communist banner in July 1976. Accurate assessments of PAVN/VC losses, he wrote, were 'largely impossible due to lack of disclosure by the Vietnamese government, terrain, destruction of remains by firepower, and [inability] to confirm artillery and aerial kills.' [62] According to the Vice Minister Nguyn B Hoan, in 2022, nearly 200,000 PAVN/VC were still MIA (whose bodies were have not been found), and 300,000 whose bodies have been found, but buried anonymously and never identified. [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. The term casualty in warfare can often be confusing. 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. 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. 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). A South Vietnamese plane seeking Vietcong hiding places accidentally dropped its flaming napalm on civilians and government troops instead. [102] The Red Cross of Vietnam estimates that up to 1 million people are disabled or suffer health problems due to Agent Orange exposure. Conflict. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C.. Major incidents. The Viet Cong used the jungle terrain to their advantage both as a means of hiding, as well as a place to bury pressure-sensor explosives to wipe out unsuspecting bands of patrolling enemy forces. Colonial France inhabited Vietnam through the end of World War II. Shelby L. Stanton, 'The Rise and Fall of an American Army,' Spa Books, 1989, xvi. On February 26, 2007, President George W. Bush presented Crandall with the Medal of Honor for . [40][37] Sometimes civilian casualties from airstrikes or artillery barrages against villages were reported as "enemies killed". McNamara claimed this program would provide valuable training, skills and opportunity to America's poora promise that was never carried out. The important statistics and information to remember from this lesson are: To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member. The number of these "boat people" leaving Vietnam and arriving safely in another country totalled almost 800,000 between 1975 and 1995. They had been in discussion with the United States, who fully backed their democratic government and offered support to their efforts to remain a sovereign nation. NAVY * 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. "It was the epitome of immoralityOne of the times I counted bodies after an air strikewhich always ended with two napalm bombs which would just fry everything that was leftI counted sixty-two bodies. The war persisted from 1955 to 1975 and most of the fighting took place in South Vietnam; accordingly it suffered the most casualties. The exact breakdown still remains unclear, although an estimated 273,000 Cambodians and 62,000 Lao lost their lives. [35], For official US military operations reports, there was no established distinctions between enemy KIA and civilian KIA. I feel like its a lifeline. Between October 1966 and June 1969, 246,000 soldiers were recruited through Project 100,000, of whom 41% were black; black people only made up about 11% of the population of the US. The U.S. Constitution grants Congress sole authority to issue declarations of war. 232,000 military personnel were still missing as of 2017, a total of 1,081,000 dead and missing for the American War. Enrolling in a course lets you earn progress by passing quizzes and exams. The human costs of the long conflict were harsh for all involved. The Virtual Wall uses the Coffelt Database (CDB) for unit assignment information. 151. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Of those killed, 61% were younger than 21 years old. [6], A 2008 study by the BMJ (formerly British Medical Journal) came up with a higher toll of 3,812,000 dead in Vietnam between 19552002. 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. Panama . A casualty is just a soldier who is no longer available for the immediate battle or campaign, the major consideration in combat. He further suggests that 222,000 civilians may have been counted as enemy military deaths by the U.S. in compiling its "body count" raising the total to 627,000 killed. "Triumph Regained: The Vietnam War, 1965-1968." [61], According to the Vietnamese government's national survey and assessment of war casualties (March 2017), there were 849,018 PAVN military personnel dead, including combat death and non-combat death, from the period between 1960 and 1975. He received his B.A. These alphabetical indexes are for your convenience but do not represent the order of names on the Wall. The U.S. military has estimated that between 200,000 and 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers died. Persian Gulf (1988) (Oil Platforms) 2. [1][note 1] The word casualty has been used in a military context since at least 1513. Richard Coffelt's health began failing, and on 29 October 2010 he made his last contributions to the Coffelt Database. Its like a teacher waved a magic wand and did the work for me. As a member, you'll also get unlimited access to over 84,000 In 1975 South Vietnam fell to a full-scale invasion by the North. Shelby Stanton, writing in The Rise and Fall of an American Army, declined to include casualty statistics because of their 'general unreliability.' Contents1 What was the ratio [] 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 . Try refreshing the page, or contact customer support. [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. That can include disabled by injuries, disabled by psychological trauma, captured, deserted, or missing. Pentagon statistics listed 39,000 and 61,000 PRG/DRV dead for the same time period.". Around 3.8 million casualties were suffered in total between both sides, with nearly half being civilian deaths. USA.gov, The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration 49. By nearly every metric, the Vietnam War was, in the common sense of the word, a war. [5], In 1995, the Vietnamese government released its estimate of war deaths for the more lengthy period of 195575. WIA. Johnson raised the number of South Vietnam deployments to 23,000 U.S. soldiers by the end of his first year in office. The Viet Cong lost around 1.1 million combatants. * The last U.S. infantry unit was pulled from the field on Aug. 11, 1972, so U.S. casualties dramatically declined. About 2 million Vietnamese civilians were killed in the fighting. This Vietnam War Covert Special Ops Unit Is The Deadliest You Never Heard Of. The earliest casualty record contains a date of death of . In reality, it is a collection of ideas, images, and information that enough people have chosen to preserve and disseminate. Vietnam Syndrome Overview & Analysis | What is Vietnam Syndrome? 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. It often refers not to those that are killed on the battlefield but to those who can no longer fight. In the United States, the Vietnam War became known as one of the most unpopular wars . Army Huey's totaled 9,713,762 flight hours in Vietnam between October 1966 and the end of American involvement in early 1973. In general, DD1300, DA2496, and DD1330 photographs are copyrighted and should not be copied. Put in their place to rule was Emperor Bao Dai, a French implant who had ties to creating a democracy. Chrissy has taught secondary English and history and writes online curriculum. Unit: Nickname: KIA: Comment: 1st Cavalry Division: First . North Vietnamese troops launched the Tet Offensive in January 1968, which was successful against South Vietnam and the U.S. The United States withdrew its forces in 1973, placing the onus on South Vietnam to fight its own battle. 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. Ultimately, by the end of the war, India had suffered over two million fatalities. Joseph L. Rhodes, 22, Marines, L. The war also spilled over into the neighboring countries of Cambodia and Laos which also endured casualties from aerial and ground fighting. He was not killed in action but murdered by another U.S. airman and later died of his wounds on 8 June, 1956. Marine Corps Casualties: 1775-2015 . The Vietnam War was a long, deadly . On Nov. 23, 1968, The Philadelphia Tribune wrote of large . Causes of ongoing deaths and side effects include. The 'shameful gamesmanship' practiced by 'certain reporting elements' under pressure to 'produce results' also shrouded the process. [48] In December 1966, the Blue Dragon Brigade reportedly perpetrated the Bnh Ha massacre. For more information see Vietnam War casualties and Aircraft losses of the Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos . But today, even as the U.S. military continues to grow more inclusive, most Americans are much less . Grenada (1983) 3. 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. To be listed on the Memorial one simply need to have been: 1) A native Hoosier; and, 2) Killed in Action or Missing in Action between 1 January . . . Those who argue that the United States won the war point to the fact that the U.S. defeated communist forces during most of Vietnams major battles. These statistics were sourced from the appendix of On the offensive: the Australian Army in the Vietnam War 1967-1968. 7. These Vietnam War photos taken by U.S. Army photographers reveal a side of the conflict that few people have ever seen. Following its 1945 defeat in World War II, Japan withdrew its forces from Vietnam, leaving the French-educated Emperor Bao Dai in control. According to a 2009 study, one third of land in the central provinces of Vietnam is still contaminated with unexploded mines and ordnance. During that period, they stated, they lost 849,018 killed plus approximately 232,000 missing and 463,000 wounded. In Qung Nam Province 4,700 civilians were killed in 1969. In general we index the memorials at the lowest practical unit level. Plus, get practice tests, quizzes, and personalized coaching to help you French Indochina (Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam) - 1,250,000 . Over the following years, additions to the list have brought the total past 58,200. [21] During the peak war years, another scholar Guenter Lewy attributed almost a third of civilian deaths to the VC. 1975. [49] The Second Marine Brigade perpetrated the Phong Nh and Phong Nht massacre on 12 February 1968. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. No estimate given for deaths caused by Viet Cong/North Vietnam (195475). [98], Unexploded ordnance continue to detonate and kill people today. In 1982 the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C., inscribed with the names of 57,939 members of U.S. armed forces who had died or were missing as a result of the war. [68] Per the official Vietnamese history, over 10,000 more PAVN soldiers were killed in the final offensive of early 1975. The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History Numbers certainly do not tell the whole story - or all of them - but they certainly paint a picture of lives lost and families devastated. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Updates? Grand total of war deaths: Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos (1954-75) 1,450,000: 2,450,000: 3,595,000: Civilian deaths in the Vietnam War . exposed to enemy attack. The Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File of the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) Extract Files contains records of 58,220 U.S. military fatal casualties of the Vietnam War. [62] Across all three wars including the First Indochina War and the Third Indochina War there was a total of 1,146,250 PAVN/VC confirmed military deaths, included 939,460 with bodies recovered and 207,000 with the bodies unfound. The first two names listed on Panel 1, East Wall, at the apex are from July 8, 1959. 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. U.S. Marines in Vietnam, 1966, An Expanding War, 1982 . Vietnam War. The numbers below are not exact, as there are still personnel who have not been identified or are identified as missing. This was the turning point and the start of South Vietnam's defeat. History 308: Causes and Effects of the Vietnam War, Psychological Research & Experimental Design, All Teacher Certification Test Prep Courses, Participants & Strategies in the Vietnam War, Casualties of the Vietnam War: Causes & Statistics, Primary Source: Brent Scowcroft's 'Escape from South Vietnam' Memorandum, Postwar Relations Between America and Vietnam, Vietnam Veterans Memorial: Description & History, Primary Source: New York Times' Article on Tribute to Vietnam Dead, Vietnam Syndrome: Definition, Causes & Impact, Studying for History 308: Causes & Effects of the Vietnam War, History 106: The Civil War and Reconstruction, ILTS Social Science - History (246): Test Practice and Study Guide, SAT Subject Test World History: Practice and Study Guide, Praxis Elementary Education: Multiple Subjects (5001) Prep, History 307: American Civil Rights Movement, Praxis Fundamental Subjects: Content Knowledge (5511) Prep, Praxis Elementary Education: Social Studies Subtest (5004) Prep, US History - Civil War: Lesson Plans & Resources, 6th Grade World History I: Homeschool Curriculum, The French and Indian War Lesson Plan for Elementary School, Middle Colonies Economic Industry Activities, New England Colonies Economic Industry Activities, Sugar Act Lesson Plan for Elementary School, Sons of Liberty Lesson Plan for Elementary School, Boston Tea Party Activities for 4th Grade, Working Scholars Bringing Tuition-Free College to the Community. U.S. Army Personnel and Dependent Casualties, 1961-1981 85% of the records in this database are related to the Vietnam Conflict. American Foreign Policy in the First Indochina War. Who had the highest casualty rates in 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. Combat Area Casualties Dataset. 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. Revolutionary War. Defense Department officials believed that these body count figures need to be deflated by 30 percent. [93][94] With the draft increasing due to the troop buildup in South Vietnam, the military significantly lowered its admission standards. Killed in Action (KIA); Died while Missing. The study's authors stated that methodological limitations of the study include imbalance between rural and urban areas and the potential exclusion of high mortality areas. It is still a concern in Southeast Asia today. [14], German historian Bernd Greiner mentions the following war crimes reported and/or investigated by the Peers Commission and the Vietnam War Crimes Working Group, among other sources:[43]. flashcard sets. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, but his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, continued the work that Kennedy had started. Corrections? 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. Since 1941 Congress has declared war only six times, all during World War II. 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. Chapter 17 index: "Communists provided further corroboration of the proximity of their casualty figures to American figures in a postwar disclosure of total losses from 1960 to 1975. The costs and casualties of the growing war proved too much for the United States to bear, and U.S. combat units were withdrawn by 1973. Omissions? Another potential limitation is the relatively small sample size of the study. The Vietnam War was costly to the U.S. Marine Corps. [92], African Americans suffered disproportionately high casualty rates in Vietnam. Vietnam War Casualties, MIA and POWs. [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. 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Lao lost their lives Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students States withdrew its forces from,... The more lengthy period of 195575, DA2496, and information to from! In December 1966, the Vietnam War 1967-1968 never carried out the territories of North South! Army personnel and Dependent casualties, 1961-1981 85 % of the items showcased on this site shrouded. And Fall of an American Army, ' Spa Books, 1989, xvi history over... Territories of North and South Vietnam & # x27 ; s defeat on this.! Information that enough people have chosen to preserve and disseminate [ 5 ], African Americans suffered high... Government released its estimate of War deaths for the same time period ``! Kennedy had started later died of his first year in office of wounds sustained during his 15! Word, a War, with nearly half being civilian deaths are still personnel who not..., DA2496, and information to remember from this lesson you must be a Study.com.. 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