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June 5, 2000 / 5:13 PM / CBS June 5, 2000 - As the 50th anniversary of the start of the Korean War approaches, one key statistic is being reclarified— the one detailing just how many Americans were killed in the war. But in 1989 the Pentagon began revising the totals because "other deaths" included U.S. military deaths worldwide during the three years of the war, rather than just those soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who died in and around the Korean peninsula. In the 1994 version of its annual publication, Service and Casualties in Major Wars and Conflicts, the Pentagon put Korean War battle deaths at 33,652 and "other deaths" meaning deaths in the war zone from illness, accidents and other non-battle causes at 3,262. That yields a total of 36,914. Today's official Pentagon figures are virtually the same: 33,651 battle deaths and 3,262 other deaths. Why, then, has the old figure of 54,000 deaths been used by the Department of Defense 50th Anniversary of the Korean War Commemorative Committee in a newsletter meant to highlight the war's history? Maj. Bob White, the committee's historian, said Monday he had been using the old 54,000 figure until he recently discovered that the Pentagon's casualty statistics had been revised several years ago. The higher figure also is engraved on the Korean War Veterans Memorial on the National Mall in Washington apparently because the memorial's organizers wanted to honor all military members who died during the period of the war, not just those lost in Korea. It might not be surprising that there would be confusion over Korean War casualty figures. The Pentagon made its official revisions over a period of several years, with little or no public explanation. For several years in the early 1990s the "other deaths" figures were simply listed as "not available," and so there was no official Defense Department total combining battle deaths and other deaths. Thanks for reading CBS NEWS. Create your free account or log in Please enter email address to continue Please enter valid email address to continue The following is a tabulation of United States military casualties of war. Overview[edit]Note: "Total casualties" includes wounded, combat and non-combat deaths but not missing in action. "Deaths – other" includes all non-combat deaths including those from bombing, massacres, disease, suicide, and murder.
Wars ranked by U.S. combat deaths[edit]
Wars ranked by total number of U.S. military deaths[edit]
"Deaths per day" is the total number of Americans killed in military service, divided by the number of days between the dates of the commencement and end of hostilities. "Deaths per population" is the total number of deaths in military service, divided by the U.S. population of the year indicated. Notes[edit]a. ^ Revolutionary War: All figures from the Revolutionary War are rounded estimates. Commonly cited casualty figures provided by the Department of Defense are 4,435 killed and 6,188 wounded, although the original government report that generated these numbers warned that the totals were incomplete and far too low.[87] In 1974, historian Howard Peckham and a team of researchers came up with a total of 6,824 killed in action and 8,445 wounded. Because of incomplete records, Peckham estimated that this new total number of killed in action was still about 1,000 too low.[88] Military historian John Shy subsequently estimated the total killed in action at 8,000, and argued that the number of wounded was probably far higher, about 25,000.[89] The "other" deaths are primarily from disease, including prisoners who died on British prison ships. b. ^ Other Actions Against Pirates: Includes actions fought in the West Indies, the Greek Isles, off of Louisiana, China and Vietnam. Other deaths resulted from disease and accidents. c.
^ Civil War: All Union casualty figures, and Confederate killed in action, from The Oxford Companion to American Military History except where noted (NPS figures).[20]
estimate of total Confederate dead from James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom (Oxford University Press, 1988), 854. Newer estimates place the total death toll at 650,000 to
850,000.[86] 148 of the Union dead were U.S.
Marines.[90][91] d. ^ World War I figures include expeditions in North Russia and Siberia. See also World War I casualties da.^ World War II Note: as of March 31, 1946 there were an estimated 286,959 dead of whom 246,492 were identified; of 40,467 who were unidentified 18,641 were located {10,986 reposed in military cemeteries and 7,655 in isolated graves} and 21,826 were reported not located. As of April 6, 1946 there were 539 American Military Cemeteries which contained 241,500 dead. Note the American Battle Monuments Commission database for the World War II reports that in 18 ABMC Cemeteries total of 93,238 buried and 78,979 missing and that "The World War II database on this web site contains the names of those buried at our cemeteries, or listed as Missing in Action, buried or lost at sea. It does not contain the names of the 233,174 Americans returned to the United States for burial..." Similarly, the ABMC Records do not cover inter-war deaths such as the Port Chicago disaster in which 320 died. As of June 2018 total of US World War II casualties listed as MIA is 72,823[92] e. ^ Korean War: Note:[20] gives Dead as 33,746 and Wounded as 103, 284 and MIA as 8,177. The American Battle Monuments Commission database for the Korean War reports that "The Department of Defense reports that 54,246 American service men and women lost their lives during the Korean War. This includes all losses worldwide. Since the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. honors all U.S. Military who lost their lives during the War, we have tried to obtain the names of those who died in other areas besides Korea during the period June 27, 1950 to July 27, 1954, one year after the Korean Armistice...". {For a breakdown of Worldwide casualties of 54,246 see The Korean War educator at [93] gives figures as In-theatre/non theater} After their retreat in 1950, dead Marines and soldiers were buried at a temporary gravesite near Hungnam, North Korea. During "Operation Glory" which occurred from July to November 1954 the dead of each side were exchanged; remains of 4,167 US soldiers/Marines were exchanged for 13,528 North Korean/Chinese dead.[94] After "Operation Glory" 416 Korean War "unknowns" were buried in the Punchbowl Cemetery. According to a DPMO white paper.[95] 1,394 names were also transmitted during "Operation Glory" from the Chinese and North Koreans, of whom 858 names proved to be correct; of the 4,167 returned remains were found to be 4,219 individuals of whom 2,944 were found to be Americans of whom all but 416 were identified by name. Of 239 Korean War unaccounted for: 186 not associated with Punchbowl unknowns (176 were identified and of the remaining 10 cases 4 were non-Americans of Asiatic descent; one was British; 3 were identified and 2 cases unconfirmed); Of 10 Korean War "Punchbowl Unknowns" 6 were identified. The W.A. Johnson listing of 496 POWs – including 25 civilians[96] – who died in North Korea can be found here and there[97] Listed as MIA: 7,683[92] ea. ^ Cold War – Korea and Vietnam and Middle East-additional US Casualties:
f. ^ Iraq War. See also Casualties of the Iraq War. Sources: .[100] g. ^ Afghanistan. Casualties include those that occurred in Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guantanamo Bay (Cuba), Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Philippines, Seychelles, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Yemen. See also[edit]
References[edit]
External links[edit]
How many Americans died in Vietnam War?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. These records were transferred into the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration in 2008.
How many Chinese died in the Korean War?The United States and South Korea had made many announcements about their calculations of the so-called Chinese casualties, which are based on their own estimates during the war. According to the American estimates, about 920,000 Chinese soldiers had been killed or wounded during the war.
How many died in Vietnam?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. The U.S. military has estimated that between 200,000 and 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers died.
How many US troops were in the Korean War?There were 6.8 million American men and women who served during the Korean War period, June 27,1950 to January 31, 1955. There were 54,200 deaths to Americans in service during the period of hostilities, June 27,1950 to July 27, 1953.
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