Appendix A
|
SERVED |
BATTLE DEATHS |
OTHER DEATHS |
WOUNDED |
|
|
Revolutionary War1, 1775–1783 |
200,000+ est. |
6,900 est. |
18,500 est. |
8,500 est. |
|
War of 18122, 1812–1815 |
286,730 |
2,261 |
17,500 est. |
4,500 est. |
|
Mexican War 1846–1848 |
115,906 |
1,733 |
13,000 est. |
4,152 |
|
Civil War3, 1861–1865: |
||||
|
Union |
2,000,000+ est. |
112,000 est. |
250,500 est. |
277,500 est. |
|
Confederacy |
750,000 est. |
94,000 est. |
167,000 est. |
194,000 est. |
|
War with Spain, 1898 |
306,760 |
385 |
3,000 est. |
1,662 |
|
Philippine- American War, 1899–1902 |
126,468 |
1,004 |
3,161 |
2,911 |
|
World War I, 1917–1918 |
4,734,991 |
53,402 |
63,114 |
204,002 |
|
World War II, 1941–1945 |
16,112,566 |
291,557 |
113,842 |
671,846 |
|
Korean War4, 1950–1953 |
5,720,000 |
33,741 |
2,835 |
103,284 |
|
Vietnam War5, 1964–1975 |
8,744,000 |
47,434 |
10,786 |
153,303 |
|
Gulf War, 1990–1991 |
2,225,000 |
147 |
235 |
467 |
|
War in Afghanistan6, 2001– |
320,000 est. |
1,488 |
386 |
15,282 |
|
War in Iraq7, 2003–2011 |
930,000 est. |
3,526 |
962 |
32,229 |
1 For the Revolutionary War we have used the statistics collected and analyzed by the Howard H. Peckham group, William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan, 1974.
2 The statistics for the War of 1812 are those provided by Donald R. Hickey, The War of 1812 (University of Chicago Press, 1989).
3 Statistics for the Civil War (especially for the Confederacy) are elusive, but we have used those provided by E. B. Long, The Civil War Day by Day (Doubleday, 1971). However, the author of an in-depth study using pre- and postwar census records has argued for raising the war’s final death toll from 620,000 to 750,000. See J. David Hacker, “A Census-Based Count of the Civil War Dead” Civil War History 57 (December 2011): 307–348.
4 At one time the Department of Defense listed 20,617 “other deaths” for the Korean War, an implausible figure when compared to the 33,741 battle deaths for Korea and the nearly 11,000 “other deaths” for the Vietnam War. The Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy are certain that they had 813 “other deaths,” but the Army, which listed 9,429 deaths of this sort at one time, has simply now announced that its “other deaths” are not available. Further research has led us to the number 2,835 for “Other Deaths.” The number for “Served” includes personnel deployed worldwide during the conflict.
5 Defense Manpower Data Center, http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/CASUALITY/vietnam.pdf. Of the total wounded, only about half required hospitalization.
6 Statistics for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as of January 25, 2012, from Defense Manpower Data Center, http://www.defense.gov/news/casualty.pdf. The figures for Afghanistan include casualties in fourteen regional countries and Cuba (Guantanamo Bay).
7 Casualties for the Iraq War include deaths in other regional countries, the Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman, and the Red Sea. “Served” means fulltime, global, not just war zone. Because of multiple tours, short deployments, and assignments to Central Command that did not include physically serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, the number of service personnel who “served” in the two wars may run as high as 1.3 million to 1.9 million.