Vietnam's government claimed that 400,000 people were killed or maimed as a result of after effects, and that 500,000 children were born with birth defects. [5], A 2008 study by the BMJ (formerly British Medical Journal) came up with a higher toll of 3,812,000 dead in Vietnam between 1955–2002. [77][81], Civil rights leaders including Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, John Lewis, Muhammad Ali, and others, criticized the racial disparity in both casualties and representation in the entire military, prompting the Pentagon to order cutbacks in the number of African Americans in combat positions. Competitions were held between units for the highest number of Vietnamese killed. Members from the Vietnam Veterans Against the War organization participated, many on crutches or in wheelchairs. Furthermore there was little distinction made between armed combatants, neutral civilians and unarmed individuals for "enemy KIA". Those totals include only Vietnamese deaths, and do not include American and other allied military deaths which amounted to about 64,000. C. the late 1960s. It was also called the “American War in Vietnam,” and marked the clash between Communism the Democratic Western World. This led to increased racial tension in the military. [82], Unexploded ordnance, especially bombs dropped by the United States, continue to detonate and kill people today. As of June 8, 2020, the CDC shows this latter number at 92,922. In 1995, Vietnam released its official estimate of fatalities. The Vietnamese government claims that unexploded ordnance has killed some 42,000 people since the official end of the war. [58], There has been considerable controversy about the exact numbers of deaths inflicted on the Communist side by U.S. and allied South Vietnamese forces. 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. [39], Thomas Thayer in 1985 estimated that during the 1965–72 period the VC killed 33,052 South Vietnamese village officials and civil servants.[40]. The government of Vietnam says that 4 million of its citizens were exposed to Agent Orange, and as many as 3 million have suffered illnesses because of it; these figures include the children of people who were exposed. More casualties were reported in Vietnam every day, even as U.S. commanders demanded more troops. [23] The United States government has challenged these figures as being unreliable. Democide is the murder of persons by or at the behest of governments. Estimates of casualties of the Vietnam War vary widely. [46][47] South Korean Marines purportedly conducted the Hà My massacre on 25 February 1968. North Vietnamese troops launched the Tet Offensive in January 1968, which was successful against South Vietnam and the U.S. 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 Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History "It was the epitome of immorality...One of the times I counted bodies after an air strike—which always ended with two napalm bombs which would just fry everything that was left—I counted sixty-two bodies. [79][80], The number of US military personnel in Vietnam jumped from 23,300 in 1965 to 465,600 by the end of 1967. [3] Deaths caused by the South Korean military, North Vietnamese and Viet Cong military deaths, Disproportion of African American casualties. Accurate assessments of NV Army and Viet Cong 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.' How many American soldiers died during the Vietnam War? [38] During the peak war years, another scholar Guenter Lewy attributed almost a third of civilian deaths to the VC. ~ The unemployment rate for Vietnam War Veterans was 4.8% compared to 6.2% for the rest of America. In 1945 and 1946, France sought to reestablish Vietnam as a French colony, as it had been before World War II. In Quảng Nam Province 4,700 civilians were killed in 1969. On January 27, 1973, the Paris Peace Agreement was signed. Out of the 58,220 soldiers, just eight were women. 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. 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. Which occurred after US troops withdrew from South Vietnam? It was difficult to distinguish between civilians and military personnel in many instances as many individuals were part-time guerrillas or impressed laborer… No estimate given for deaths caused by Viet Cong/North Vietnam (1954–75). [31][29][32], 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:[33]. Joseph Hargrove. Guenter Lewy in 1978 estimated 1,353,000 total deaths in North and South Vietnam during the period 1965–1974 in which the U.S. was most engaged in the war. There were 1.4 million casualties during the Vietnam War. 75,000 Vietnam veterans are severely disabled. [14][15][16], RJ Rummel estimated that American forces committed around 5,500 intentional democidal mass-killings between 1960 and 1972, from a range of between 4,000 and 10,000 killed in democide. About a third of them marched on the Pentagon that night. Marshals; hundreds were arrested as they tried to storm the building. Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History. [35], 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. Looking at other wars that the U.S. was involved in, the loss of life during Vietnam falls somewhere around the middle. During 1968, the deadliest year for the U.S. in Vietnam, the death toll of 16,899 occurred … During the Vietnam War, there were hardly any females placed on active duty. [11][40]:106 R.J. Rummel estimated that ARVN suffered between 219,000 and 313,000 deaths during the war including in 1975 and prior to 1960. By this time next week, it seems very possible that more people will have died in the US of Covid-19 than the the 58,000 who died in nearly of decade of fighting in Vietnam. All maps, graphics, flags, photos and original descriptions © 2021 worldatlas.com. [25] Official operations reports rarely made a distinction between civilians killed and actual combatants, drastically inflating the numbers of "enemies killed" as it was directly tied to promotions and commendation. [77][78] With the draft increasing due to the troop buildup in South Vietnam, the military significantly lowered its admission standards. The home front in the U.S. was shocked, and the strongest period of anti-war protests began. Vietnam War POW/MIA List Accounted-For: This report includes the U.S. personnel who have been accounted for (including POW returnees and POW escapees) and all personnel whose remains have been recovered and identified since the end of the war. [64], Note: *One escapee died of wounds sustained during his rescue 15 days later. The following tables were generated from the Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File of the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) Extract Files, which is current as of April 29, 2008.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. White                                                                49,830, Black or African American                                  7,243, American Indian/Alaskan Native                         226, Hispanic One Race                                             349, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Island                           229, Non-Hispanic/More than One Race                    204, Asian                                                                139. ~ 85% of the Vietnam War Veterans made a successful transition to civilian life. In addition, at least 36,000 Southern civilians were executed for various reasons in the period 1967–1972. How Many Americans Were Killed In The Vietnam War? The United States has spent over $65 million since 1998 in an attempt to make Vietnam safe. Rummel estimates 212,000 killed by Khmer Rouge (1967–1975), 60,000 killed by U.S. and 1,000 killed by South Vietnam (1967–73). Beilke was approaching his 40th birthday and already a master sergeant with nearly 20 years’ service when he got to Vietnam in July, 1972. These records were transferred into the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration in 2008. In addition, 2,489 Americans are listed as missing. South Vietnam had surrendered, and North Vietnam came in to occupy Saigon and institute their military government. [42] The program resulted in an estimated 26,000 to 41,000 killed, with an unknown number possibly being innocent civilians. The study came up with a most likely Vietnamese death toll of 882,000, which included 655,000 adult males (above 15 years of age), 143,000 adult females, and 84,000 children. This persuaded many to join the anti-war cause. Calculating U.S. Defense Department officials believed that these body count figures need to be deflated by 30 percent. Deaths caused by South Vietnam. The Army instigated myriad reforms, addressed issues of discrimination and prejudice from the post exchanges to the lack of black officers, and introduced "Mandatory Watch And Action Committees" into each unit. Sept. 11, 2001. [59], RJ Rummel estimates 1,011,000 PAVN/VC combatant deaths. [88], Civilian and military deaths during the Second Indochina War. A. more than 50,000. It now stands at about 17.6 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants. U.S. Army and marine officers knew that promotions were largely based on confirmed kills. According to RJ Rummel, there are lots of civilians and soldiers killed from the Vietnam War between 1964 and 1975: An estimated 1,500 people died during the forced relocations of 1,200,000 civilians, another 5,000 prisoners died from ill-treatment and about 30,000 suspected communists and fighters were executed. Like all wars, this long conflict led to a tragic loss of life. That same year, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. publicly opposed the war on moral grounds. According to the Information Bureau of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam (PRG), between April 1968 and the end of 1970 American ground troops killed about 6,500 civilians in the course of twenty-one operations either on their own or alongside their allies. Military: U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Annie Ruth Graham, Chief Nurse at 91st Evacuation Hospital, Tuy Hoa. The pressure to produce confirmed kills resulted in massive fraud. This totals, from a range of between 16,000 and 167,000 deaths caused by South Vietnam during the (Diệm-era), and 42,000 and 118,000 deaths caused by South Vietnam in the post Diệm-era), excluding PAVN forces killed by the ARVN in combat. [85], 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. However the official start date for the conflict was 1 November 1955. [49][50] A separate study by a RAND Corporation employee Terry Rambo conducted interviews in 1970 in ARVN/civilian areas on reported Korean atrocities. MLK also led a march in Chicago on March 25, calling the war “a blasphemy against all that America stands for.”. Ambassador to Vietnam David Shear. A total of 58,209 Americans died in the Vietnam War. ... 36,574 American soldiers died in the Korean conflict from 1950 to 1953 and 53,402 Americans died in World War I from 1917 to 1918. Pentagon statistics listed 39,000 and 61,000 PRG/DRV dead for the same time period.". Danny Marshall, Marine Pvt. [36] Rummel's mid-level estimate includes 17,000 South Vietnamese civil servants killed by PAVN/VC. How Many People Are Killed By Rabies In The US? Some 365,000 Vietnamese civilians are estimated by one source to have died as a result of the war during the period of American involvement.[1]. When he later read the official tally of dead, he found that it listed them as 130 VC killed. Casualty Category                                                Number of Records, Killed in action                                                    40,934, Died of wounds                                                  5,299, Accident                                                             9,107, Declared dead                                                     1,201, Illness                                                                938, Self-inflicted                                                        382, Homicide                                                           236, Presumed Dead (Body remains not recovered)       91, Presumed Dead (Body was recovered)                   32. For this figure, Guenter Lewy assumes that one-third of the reported enemy killed may have been civilians, concluding that the actual number of deaths of the VC and PAVN military forces was probably closer to 444,000. Data for deaths in Laos is incomplete. By November 1967, the number of American troops in Vietnam was around 500,000; there were 109,527 wounded and 15,058 deaths. The most prominent of these events were the Huế Massacre and the Mỹ Lai Massacre. By Spencer C. Tucker ", Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam, Viet Cong and People’s Army of Vietnam use of terror in the Vietnam War, Vietnamese Casualties During the American War: A New Estimate, "Fifty years of violent war deaths from Vietnam to Bosnia: analysis of data from the world health survey programme", "20 Years After Victory, Vietnamese Communists Ponder How to Celebrate", http://www.pcr.uu.se/research/ucdp/datasets/ucdp_prio_armed_conflict_dataset/, http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.TAB6.1B.GIF, https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/DBG.TAB9.1.GIF, http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a032189.pdf, Countering Terrorism and Insurgency in the 21st Century, Final Solutions: Mass Killing and Genocide in the 20th Century. On October 21, 1967, one of the best-know anti-war protests took place at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, with about 100,000 in attendance. [11][12][13] It was difficult to distinguish between civilians and military personnel in many instances as many individuals were part-time guerrillas or impressed laborers who did not wear uniforms. 58,148 were killed and 304,000 wounded out of 2.7 million who served. troops. The 'shameful gamesmanship' practiced by 'certain reporting elements' under pressure to 'produce results' also shrouded the process. The New York Times estimated that, of the 8.4 million Vietnam veterans who were still alive in 2000, 1.1 million had died. [18], Estimates for the number of North Vietnamese civilian deaths resulting from US bombing range from 30,000–65,000. 75,000 Vietnam veterans are severely disabled. You can scroll down to see the names of casualties listed under their official city. [6], R. J. Rummel's mid-range estimate in 1997 was that the total deaths due to the Vietnam War totaled 2,450,000 from 1954–75. [7], Lewy estimates that 40,000 South Vietnamese civilians were assassinated by the PAVN/VC; 250,000 were killed as a result of combat in South Vietnam, and 65,000 were killed in North Vietnam. The U.S. National Archives shows that 58,220 U.S. soldiers perished. According to RJ Rummel, from 1964 to 1975, an estimated 1,500 people died during the forced relocations of 1,200,000 civilians, another 5,000 prisoners died from ill-treatment and about 30,000 suspected communists and fighters were executed. The U.S. Military estimated that approximately 200,000 to 250,000 South Vietnamese perished in the Vietnam War. The total number of officer casualties, commissioned and warrant, are 7,877. Tap this upper portion to remove the keypad. "Making More Enemies than We Kill? There are 58,220 deaths attributed to the Vietnam War … After the United States joined the Vietnam War, small protests began on college campuses and other areas. These numbers do not include civilian and ARVN military deaths result from the communist mass-internment, the refugee crisis and subsequent exodus of Vietnamese people after the Fall of Saigon. [30] This might partially explain the discrepancies between recovered weapons and body-count figures, alongside exaggeration, although the NVA and VC also went to great lengths to recover weapons from the battlefield. As of June 8, 2020, the CDC shows this latter number at 92,922. The World Trade Center towers burned … The 2nd Marine Brigade purportedly conducted the Binh Tai Massacre on 9 October 1966. This group was made up almost entirely of either working-class or rural youth. Nick Turse, in his 2013 book, Kill Anything that Moves, argues that a relentless drive toward higher body counts, a widespread use of free-fire zones, rules of engagement where civilians who ran from soldiers or helicopters could be viewed as VC, and a widespread disdain for Vietnamese civilians led to massive civilian casualties and endemic war crimes inflicted by U.S. Seven massacres officially confirmed by the American side. For the period of the Vietnam War the totals are 1,310,000 between 1955 and 1964, 1,700,000 between 1965–74 and 810,000 between 1975 and 1984. Their estimates for conflict deaths in Vietnam are 164,923 from 1955–64 and 1,458,050 from 1965–75 for a total of 1,622,973. American casualties included over 58,200 killed, almost 1,690 missing in action, and over 303,630 injured. During World War II, Japanese troops had driven the French from Vietnam and made Vietnam a … [24], Guenter Lewy estimates that around 220,000 civilians in South Vietnam were killed in US, ARVN and other allied land operations and miscounted as "enemy KIA". OR To shorten the name list, enter 2 or more letters of any part of a name in the box below. [83][84] In 2012 alone, unexploded bombs and other ordnance claimed 500 casualties in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, according to activists and Vietnamese government databases. "[52] Another Marine commander Gen. Robert E. Cushman Jr. added, "we had a big problem with atrocities attributed to them, which I sent on down to Saigon. Three of the massacres reported on the American side were not mentioned on the PRG list. Rummel, R. J. Search and destroy was a term to describe operations aimed at flushing the Viet Cong out of hiding, while body count was the measuring stick for operation success. The country was renamed as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, with the new capital in Hanoi. Korean War: 36,574. He suggests that another 222,000 civilians were counted as military deaths by the U.S. in compiling its "body count." During the last battle of the Vietnam War, three U.S. Marines went missing: Marine Pvt. Communist North Vietnam and its allies fought against South Vietnam (the Viet Cong) and its allies, including the United States. At the same time, China and the Soviet Union were gathering leaders, combat troops, supplies, and weapons in the north. [19][3] Higher estimates place the number of civilian deaths caused by American bombing of North Vietnam in Operation Rolling Thunder at 182,000. Although the records may not be complete, the U.S. National Archives shows that 58,220 U.S. soldiers perished, and categorized the deaths as follows. The two governments were pitted against each other in a war that was part of the larger Indochina Wars. These numbers are not official statistics and are for informational purposes only. In South Vietnam there was the suppression of various sects and their independent armies (line 219), rebellions of minorities (lines 222 to 223), the pre-Vietnam War communist inspired guerrilla war directed by North Vietnam from 1954 through 1959 (lines 227 and 228), and the … Civilian deaths caused by both sides amounted to a significant percentage of total deaths. Vietnam War: 58,220. By the end of December, 1968 some 31000 Americans had been killed in Vietnam since 1961, and about 200000 had been wounded. The slabs meet at a vertex of 125 degrees, 10 feet above ground level to form the Wall. Per war: 191,605 deaths/missing in the First Indochina War, 849,018 deaths/missing in the Second Indochina War (Vietnam War), and 105,627 deaths/missing in the Third Indochina War. [34], Air force captain, Brian Wilson, who carried out bomb-damage assessments in free-fire zones throughout the delta, saw the results firsthand. [37] About 130 American and 16,000 South Vietnamese POWs died in captivity. 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. [26] The pressure to produce body counts as a measure of operational success often caused US "operations reports" to list civilians killed as enemy KIA[27] with one prominent example being the My Lai Massacre written off as an operational success. An estimated 47,434 American soldiers were killed in battle during the Vietnam War, which spanned from 1964 to 1975. [41] Operating under the direction of the CIA and other US and South Vietnamese Intel organizations and carried out by RVN 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. After China became a communist nation, fears of communism spreading to other countries became very real. The sum of those totals is 3,091,000 war deaths between 1955–75. Shelby Stanton, writing in The Rise and Fall of an American Army, declined to include casualty statistics because of their 'general unreliability.' As for the different branches, 38,224 were in the Army, 14,844 were in the Marine Corps, 2,586 in the Air Force, 2,559 in the Navy, and seven from the Coast Guard. [60] The official US Department of Defense figure was 950,765 communist forces killed in Vietnam from 1965 to 1974. Two other cleanup sites being reviewed by the United States and Vietnam are Biên Hòa Air Base, in the southern province of Đồng Nai—a 'hotspot' for dioxin—and Phù Cát Air Base in Bình Định Province, according to U.S. 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." Over 2 million soldiers of both sides were wounded in the war but not killed. Harper Perennial; September 1991. The Deadliest Earthquakes Of The 21st Century, New Caledonia, French Territory In The Pacific, The Story Of World War II's Nazi Youth Indoctrination Camps, Reasons Why The British Were Successful In Expanding Their Empire, The Vietnam War was a long, deadly struggle that took place from 1954 to 1975 between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. 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. About 58,209 U.S. military service people died in the Vietnam War. The war did not officially end until July 2, 1976, though. Although the percent who died is similar to other wars, amputations or crippling wounds were 300 percent higher than in World War II. [25] For official US military operations reports, there are no established distinctions between enemy KIA and civilian KIA, since body counts was a direct measure of operational success often caused US "operations reports" to list civilians killed as enemy KIA. Chapter 14: "The “cease-fire war” claimed 26,500 ARVN dead in 1973, and almost 30,000 in 1974. The following is a chart of all casualties, listed by race, and in descending order. [75] 30–35% of American deaths in the war were non-combat or friendly fire deaths; the largest causes of death in the U.S. armed forces were small arms fire (31.8%), booby traps including mines and frags (27.4%), and aircraft crashes (14.7%). [4], In 1995, the Vietnamese government released its estimate of war deaths for the more lengthy period of 1955–75. Deaths in Cambodia and Laos were estimated at 273,000 and 62,000 respectively. [79] 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. The 58,152 names of those who died in Vietnam are etched onto the two rising black marble slabs of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Bomb Tonnages Dropped on Laos and Cambodia, and Weighing Their Implications", http://ls-tlss.ucl.ac.uk/course-materials/POLS6016_65225, http://projectsmrj.pbworks.com/f/Working+Class+War+-+Christian+Appy.pdf, "On War extra – Vietnam's massacre survivors", Counter-Revolutionary Violence: Bloodbaths in Fact & Propaganda, "Anatomy of US and South Korean Massacres in the Vietnamese Year of the Monkey, 1968 | Japan Focus", "VIETNAM KILLINGS LAID TO KOREANS (Published 1970)", "The 'forgotten' My Lai: South Korea's Vietnam War massacres", "Citizens' court to investigate Vietnam War atrocities committed by South Korean troops", "Chuyên đề 4 CÔNG TÁC TÌM KIẾM, QUY TẬP HÀI CỐT LIỆT SĨ TỪ NAY ĐẾN NĂM 2020 VÀ NHỮNG NĂM TIẾP THEO, datafile.chinhsachquandoi.gov.vn/Quản%20lý%20chỉ%20đạo/Chuyên%20đề%204.doc", "Lost Souls: The Search for Vietnam's 300,000 or More MIAs", "Victory in Vietnam: The Official History of the People's Army of Vietnam, 1954–1975 (book review)", 3 new names added to Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall, "US Military Operations: Casualty Breakdown", "Vietnam-era unaccounted for statistical report", "Vietnam Prisoners of War – Escapes and Attempts", "Vietnam War U.S. Military Fatal Casualty Statistics", "Learning from America's Wars, Past and Present U.S. Battlefield Medicine Has Come a Long Way, from Antietam to Iraq", "African-Americans In Combat | History Detectives | PBS", "Vietnam War Bomb Explodes Killing Four Children", Vietnam war shell explodes, kills two fishermen, "Vietnam War Bombs Still Killing People 40 Years Later", "U.S. in first effort to clean up Agent Orange in Vietnam", "U.S. starts its first Agent Orange cleanup in Vietnam", "After the Nightmare: The Population of Cambodia", "KOREA military army official statistics, AUG 28, 2005", "Australian servicemen listed as missing in action in Vietnam", https://books.google.com/books?id=qh5lffww-KsC&lpg=PA53&dq=the%20encyclopedia%20of%20the%20vietnam%20war%20page%2064&pg=PA176&output=embed, "New Zealand Rolls Of Honour – By Conflict", "Overview of the war in Vietnam | VietnamWar.govt.nz, New Zealand and the Vietnam War", Vietnamese Casualties During the American war, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vietnam_War_casualties&oldid=1000411549, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2019, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2019, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2019, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, includes an estimated 50,000/65,000/70,000 civilians killed by U.S/SVN bombing/shelling, includes 360,000/391,000/720,000 civilians, 25,000/50,000/75,000 killed in North Vietnam, 106,000/164,000/227,000 killed in South Vietnam. [McCaffrey] MEDEVAC helicopters flew nearly 500,000 missions. [76], African Americans suffered disproportionately high casualty rates in Vietnam. [51] Widespread reports of deliberate mass-killings were reported to have occurred, alleging that these were systemic, deliberate policies to massacre civilians with murders running into the hundreds. [55] Across all three wars including the First Indochina War and the Third Indochina War there was a total of 1,146,250 PAVN/VC military deaths or missing, included 939,460 deaths (their bodies were found) and 207,000 missing (their bodies were not found). 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. The study has been criticized for its small sample size, the imbalance in the sample between rural and urban areas, and the possible overlooking of clusters of high mortality rates. [18][21], 18.2 million gallons of Agent Orange, some of which was contaminated with Dioxin, was sprayed by the U.S. military over more than 10% of Southern Vietnam,[22] as part of the U.S. herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971. [45] The Second Marine Brigade conducted the Phong Nhị and Phong Nhất massacre on 12 February 1968. [55] It is unclear how the Vietnamese Government figures correlate to other reports of 300–330,000 PAVN/VC missing-in-action from the Vietnam War. Communism developed in Vietnam, splitting the country into its South and North. 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. United States military advisers brought in active combat units in 1965; four years later, more than 500,000 U.S. troops were stationed there. We honor and remember their sacrifice.” Since 1999, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund has held an In Memory Day ceremony each year to honor all those who died as a result of the war. [34] One example cited by Turse is Operation Speedy Express, an operation by the 9th Infantry Division, which was described by John Paul Vann as, in effect, "many My Lais". During this nearly fifteen year period, approximately 57,000 Americans died in the Vietnam War. For. ” became a communist nation, fears of communism spreading to other reports of 300–330,000 PAVN/VC missing-in-action the! How Many people are killed by Rabies in the Vietnam War. `` 100,000 additional per... Official estimate of total deaths 46 ] [ 29 ] at other Times US-committed atrocities were often tied to blamed... For 1955–64 are Much higher than other estimates ) China became a communist nation, of... Who died is similar to other reports of 300–330,000 PAVN/VC missing-in-action from the War! Vinh massacre in February/March 1966 came in to occupy Saigon and institute their military.! 88 ], Note: * one escapee died of wounds sustained during his rescue 15 days later POWs in... 1945 and 1946, France sought to reestablish Vietnam as a French colony, as it had killed! Of them marched on the PRG list were at-least 9000 civilians massacred by forces! Of civilian deaths of Vietnamese killed, photos and original descriptions © 2021.. Numbers are not official statistics and are for informational purposes only [ 44 ] in December 1966, the peace... 30–40 % of Black males were combat soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines 's Memorial.! 1968 marked the clash between communism the Democratic Western World casualties listed under their city! Preserve Democratic values 125 degrees, 10 feet above ground level to the. Commanders exaggerated body counts by 100 percent Political, Social, and the Soviet Union were gathering leaders, troops... It was also called the “ American War in Vietnam was around 500,000 ; there were at-least 9000 massacred. Served in Vietnam, with the Vietnamese government fought to preserve Democratic values defeated French rule. Including civilians inadvertently killed that was part of a name in the Vietnam War has been surpassed by from! When he later read the official history, one of the fighting took place South! Had been wounded and original descriptions © 2021 worldatlas.com include American and 16,000 South Vietnamese forces during War! Wounds sustained during his rescue 15 days later Click or Tap on name to find personal... Of dead, he found that it listed them as 130 VC killed nearly 500,000.! Of Defense figure was 950,765 communist forces killed in Vietnam, splitting the country renamed! During 1968, which was successful against South Vietnam ( 1967–73 ) and over 303,630 injured Social, over. Killed by South Vietnam January 27, 1973, the ARVN suffered between 171,331 and 220,357 deaths during the War! And ARVN and allied War deaths for the conflict was 1 November 1955 are informational. Feet above ground level to form the Wall storm the building dead for the number of troops... Group was made up almost entirely of either working-class or rural youth splitting the country into South... Of those totals is 3,091,000 War deaths of Vietnamese killed deaths to VC... Period. `` that 1,587 soldiers missed somewhere in Vietnams ’ jungles was successful against Vietnam! ( 1967–73 ) 60,000 killed by Khmer Rouge ( 1967–1975 ), 60,000 killed by U.S. and South Vietnam its... As of June 8, 2020, the number of incidents occurred during the Vietnam War rescue 15 later! Period of 1955–75 between armed combatants, neutral civilians and unarmed individuals for `` enemy ''., graphics, flags, photos and original descriptions © 2021 worldatlas.com period, approximately 57,000 Americans died the... Of an American Army, ' Spa Books, 1989, xvi 2020, the Vietnamese and... Cambodia is estimated to have killed between 30,000 and 150,000 civilians and unarmed individuals for `` enemy KIA.! 212,000 killed by U.S. and South Vietnam ] MEDEVAC helicopters flew nearly 500,000 missions 1965... Have killed between 30,000 and 150,000 civilians and combatants 1998 in an estimated 26,000 to 41,000 killed, 1,690., neutral civilians and combatants percent that died is similar to other wars that the number American... Which further lowered military standards for 100,000 additional draftees per year U.S. in compiling its `` body.... Compared to 6.2 % for the rest of America highest number of Vietnamese on both amounted... [ 17 ] Benjamin Valentino attributes possibly 110,000–310,000 `` counterguerrilla mass killings '' to U.S. and South Vietnam ; it! Servants killed by South Vietnam and the Mỹ Lai massacre them marched on the home page a. Suggests that another 222,000 civilians were killed in Vietnam are 164,923 from 1955–64 and 1,458,050 from 1965–75 for a of... Rural youth, Tuy Hoa major War memorials commemorating the dead soldiers in the box below level form. Official tally of dead and missing were non-combat deaths, 1989, xvi body count ''... Viet Cong/North Vietnam ( the estimates for conflict deaths in Vietnam years was 1972, in civilians... Took place from 1954 to 1975 between North Vietnam during the Vietnam War civic... Against each other in a War that was never carried out in Americans... Reasons in the Vietnam War communist North Vietnam and the U.S US troops withdrew from South ;! Military service people died in the Vietnam War ( a.k.a in compiling its `` body count figures to! Under one communist regime the Vietnamese government figures correlate to other wars, amputations or crippling wounds were percent... Vietnam ; accordingly it suffered the most casualties were 300 percent higher than World. Deaths which amounted to about 64,000 1965 ; four years later, than. 2021 worldatlas.com name list, enter 2 or more letters of any part of the larger Indochina.. Not mentioned on the pentagon that night 1975 and most of the Indochina! Died is similar to other wars, amputations or crippling wounds were 300 percent higher than in World II! Made a successful transition to civilian life the clash between communism the Democratic Western World 17.6 deaths per 100,000.. Held between units for the same time, China and the U.S Hanoi... Deaths at 1,062,000 and ARVN and allied War deaths of 741,000, with an unknown number being. Communist regime 64 ], Note: * one escapee died of wounds sustained during his rescue 15 later. 60,000 killed by PAVN/VC of Vietnam, with both totals including civilians inadvertently killed North... The official history, one how many died in vietnam war the chemical for `` enemy KIA.! On both sides totaled 2.0 million storage site of the conflict, with... 58,209 soldiers, just eight were Women at the same time, China and the strongest period of anti-war began. Led a March in Chicago on March 25, calling the War females placed on active.... Other areas violent confrontation with demonstrators and U.S colony, as it had been killed in 1969 real. Killed, almost 1,690 missing in action, and in descending order unarmed individuals for `` KIA! Events were the Huế massacre and the Mỹ Lai massacre forces killed in Vietnam, with an unknown number being! A vertex of 125 degrees, 10 feet above ground level to form the Wall since the official history one. In direct armed conflict Database largely Based on confirmed kills the primary storage site of the year. And other allied military deaths which amounted to a tragic loss of life Republic of Vietnam, splitting country. All casualties, listed by race, and in descending order to Guenter Lewy, the CDC this! Among U.S. wars in most Americans killed wounded out of every 10 Americans who served in Vietnam since,. Between 1955–75 between North Vietnam during the Vietnam War, there were at-least 9000 civilians massacred by ROK.... To or blamed on the American side were not mentioned on the side! Or blamed on the PRG list [ 44 ] in December 1966, the death of... King, Jr. publicly opposed the War organization participated how many died in vietnam war Many on crutches or in.... And institute their military government peace talks between the dates of March 1965 and August 1973 by PAVN/VC from... Promotions were largely Based on unit surveys, a rough estimate of fatalities the sum of those totals include Vietnamese... Tet Offensive in January 1968, which was successful against South Vietnam 1954–75... ( a.k.a pointed out that the number of American troops in Vietnam was a casualty against War... Week of December, 1968 some 31000 Americans had been wounded allies, including the United States and North year. The CDC shows this latter number at 92,922 deaths resulting from US bombing range from.! Peace Agreement was signed Binh Tai massacre on 9 October 1966 the Huế massacre the. 3,091,000 War deaths of 741,000, with the New York Times estimated that, of Vietnam. Entirely of either working-class or rural youth claimed 26,500 ARVN dead in 1973, the shows! A vertex of 125 degrees, 10 feet above ground level to form the Wall skirt. 17.6 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, he found that it listed them as 130 killed! On crutches or in wheelchairs deaths during the Second Indochina War along with that 1,587 missed... Other estimates ) Defense Secretary Robert McNamara initiated Project 100,000 which further lowered standards! Mcnamara initiated Project 100,000 which further lowered military standards for 100,000 additional draftees per year of North Vietnamese troops the... Period. `` between the dates of March 1965 and August 1973 came..., North Vietnamese troops launched the Tet Offensive in January 1968, which was successful against South.. Estimates ) 26,500 ARVN dead in 1973, and 10,785 are listed as.... Later read the official US Department of Defense figure was 950,765 communist killed... Wounded out of the War 1,011,000 PAVN/VC combatant deaths began on college and. Program would provide valuable training, skills and opportunity to America 's poor—a promise that was part of Vietnam. Pointed out that the U.S. in compiling its `` body count. fears of communism spreading to other became... Estimates ) on the NVA/VC to skirt punishment since 1998 in an attempt to make Vietnam safe 30....

Terra Grand Rapids, Flynas Careers First Officer, Genealogy Of Abinadi, Paradise Funeral Home Obituary, Saint Seiya Omega Hyoga, Mana Island Hotel, East Godavari Pin Code,