For more great articles be sure to subscribe to Vietnam Magazine today! The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. has the names listed in chronological order by date of loss. These officer casualties came more from the South and West regions, 4.1 deaths per 100,000, in contrast to 3.5 from the Northeast and Midwest regions. Thus it is safe to say that Hispanic-Americans were over-represented among Vietnam casualties — an estimated 5.5 percent of the dead against 4.5 percent of the 1970 population. All of this was one of the great and abiding agonies of the Vietnam War, causing repercussions within families and on the national political scene to this day. Almost 50 percent were majors, lieutenant-colonels, colonels and three were generals. (in PDF format, sorted alphabetically by last name of casualty) American Samoa Guam Puerto Rico Virgin Islands Canal Zone Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Inscription at the beginning of The Wall. However, if officer casualties are added to the total, then this overrepresentation is reduced to 12.5 percent of all casualties. NAVY AND AIR FORCE OFFICER CASUALTIES BY RANK AND AGE. - U.S. MILITARY CASUALTIES IN SOUTHEAST ASIA - - DEATHS BY CALENDAR YEAR - - Year of death may either be actual or based on a presumptive finding of death- - (originally declared missing and later declared dead).-AS OF MARCH 31, 1997-Since 1997 93 names have been added to the memorial that are not show in the stats below. The Coffelt Database of Vietnam War casualties has its roots in an effort begun by Richard Donham Coffelt. The resulting aptitude scores were used to classify entrants into four categories and this would, for the most part, determine their subsequent assignments. World War II had been, for the most part, a perfect war, clear of purpose, the forces of democracy and freedom lined up against the forces of fascism and tyranny. ), EDUCATIONAL LEVELS OF ENLISTED CASUALTIES. Vietnam War. Read their histories. Warships & Submarines. They came largely from California and Texas, with lesser numbers from Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Florida, New York and a few from many other states across the country. Black leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr., protested, and President Johnson ordered black participation in combat units cut back. These alphabetical indexes are for your convenience but do not represent the order of names on the Wall. Thus we can see that the channeling philosophy continued within the armed forces. It should be emphasized that 55 percent of all Navy and Air Force officer casualties came as a result of reconnaissance and bombing sorties into North Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia. The names of the American war dead were listed in numerical order by the date and time of death. Although valuable, this study was almost certainly misinterpreted by its authors when they said that their data showed that most privileged and influential segments of American society were not insulated from the perils of Vietnam conflict. Vietnam Casualties by State and City or Town This gallery lists the complete Vietnam War casualty files by State. As a result, it was mainly the families of Navy and Air Force pilots and crewmen who suffered the great agony of the POW (prisoner of war) and MIA (missing in action) experience that came out of the Vietnam War. Thus, there were 211,455 killed and wounded, or one in every 10 Americans who served in Vietnam. Naval Academy, 130; Texas A & M, 112; The Citadel, 66; Virginia Military Institute, 43; Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 26; Norwich University, 19. The very young were considered by many to be preferred combat material. During the V'nam war, the Navy and Air Force became substantially white enclaves. Search the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall page for Vietnam War casualties by name, home of record, home state/country, branch, age, service or social security number, rank, birthday, and/or casualty date. Leonid Brezhnev, Soviet General Secretary of the Communist party and President of the Supreme Soviet from 1964 until 1982. The Army as a branch had 134,982 killed or wounded (9.5 percent), but the Marines suffered 66,227 killed or wounded (22.5 percent) or almost one of every four Marines who served. The widely held notion that the poor served and died in Vietnam while the rich stayed home is way off the mark. We have 82 Mississippi Counties listed in our archive. They also died quickly, many within a few weeks or months of arriving in Vietnam. In 2004, the total is 58,241 names. HistoryNet.com is brought to you by Historynet LLC, the world's largest publisher of history magazines. The draft policy at the time of the Vietnam War was called the Universal Military Training and Service Act. The virtual Wall of Faces features a page dedicated to honoring and remembering every person whose name is inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. The DOD database listed precise religious preferences for the 58,152 Vietnam casualties. Similarly, the ABMC Records do not cover inter-War deaths such as the Port Chicago disaster in which 320 died. Material presented throughout this website is for historical and entertainment value only and should not to be construed as usable for hardware restoration, maintenance, or general operation. Of the 7,877 officer casualties, 7,595, or 96.4 percent, were white; 147, or 1.8 percent, were black; 24, or 0.3 percent, were Asian; 7, or .08 percent, were Native American; 104, or 1.3 percent, were unidentified by race. A correspondingly greater tradition of military service in the other regions had its effect on U.S. regional casualties. Eight women were killed in Vietnam, five Army lieutenants, one Army captain, one Army lieutenant colonel and one Air Force captain. As we have pointed out earlier, more than 80 percent of our casualties were Army and Marine enlisted men with an average age of 19- to 20-years. Additionally, many of the names on the wall were other teenagers from the suburban white collar communities with siblings who were in, or would go on to college, but who, as individuals themselves, were slow to mature, struggled through high school and were therefore very available for the Vietnam War. That was about 0.03% of the population at the time with an average 11 deaths each day. The figures show that on average 65 percent of white enlisted men and 60 percent of black enlisted men were high school graduates. The Navy had a similar profile: 55 percent of its 622 officer casualties were 30 years of age or older, and 45 percent were ranked at lieutenant commander or above when they died. Where previously a high school diploma had been an acceptable goal, now it was college and all the benefits it would bring. Officer casualties in Vietnam, including warrant officers, numbered 7,874, or 13.5 percent of all casualties. The civilian and military men who formed the policy did not see it necessarily as a disadvantage. Some recent studies tend to refute what had been the perceived wisdom of social scientists and other commentators that our Vietnam dead came overwhelmingly from the poor communities. During the Vietnam War, the Navy and Air Force became substantially white enclaves – enlisted and officer casualties were 96 percent white. It forces us to the conclusion that many of those names on the wall were kids who just couldn’t quite get it together in high school, a little late in maturing intellectually, and didn’t have the resources or the guile to get out of the way when the war came. 6,000 civilians died in the more extensive shellings. It was compiled by Jay Ebert, and used Tom Holloway's original database files as … Sad to say, many of these recruitment promises were fudged in one way or another, and many of these young men found themselves shipped directly to Vietnam after basic training. This number of deaths per 100,000 compared strikingly with the 23.5 in the Northeast region, 29.9 in the West and 28.4 in the North Central (Midwest) region. Mary Ashton Livermore, a temperance worker, women's rights activist, lecturer, and writer. Ninety-one percent of these Army officers were warrant officers, second lieutenants, first lieutenants or captains. National Archives Reference Information Page 90 A Finding Aid to Records Relating to American Prisoners of War and Missing in Action from the Vietnam War Era, 1960-1994 This was a reflection of the role of warrant officers as helicopter pilots (of the 1,277 warrant officer casualties, 95 percent were Army helicopter pilots), and of the young lieutenants and captains as combat platoon leaders or company commanders. The officer corps’ casualties alone would satisfy that judgment, but that is not the same as being representative. It should be noted, however, that the draft was specifically designed to trigger volunteer enlistments. They were struggling through or dropping out of high school, or if a high school graduate, had tested poorly for college entrance. Fully 50 percent were in the 17- to 24-year age group, and astonishingly, there were 764 Army officer casualties who were 21 or younger. The draftee, if found physically and mentally fit, would be inducted for a period of two years, to be followed by another two year period in the active reserves and a subsequent two years in the inactive reserves. These records were transferred into the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration in 2008. The National Archives and Records Administration prepared these Vietnam War casualty lists by creating extracts from the military casualty data files in the Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Record Group 330). John Kennedy, discussing military assignments, said that, life is unfair. The names of those who gave their lives and of those who remain missing are inscribed in the order they were taken from us. Of the 7,262 blacks who died, 6,955, or 96 percent, were Army and Marine enlisted men. One additional factor, often overlooked, that influenced volunteer enlistment was military tradition — the influence of fathers, grandfathers, brothers, uncles and others who had served in previous 20th century wars. The Air Force lost 2,580 or l percent. The names are listed chronologically by date of death, the first to last. Memorial pages honoring Vietnam War casualties, listed by their last names. The makeup of U.S. combat forces in Vietnam has long been the subject of controversy among social scientists. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) study released in 1992, found that our Vietnam casualties were only marginally greater from the economically lowest 50 percent of our communities (31 deaths per 100,000 of population), when compared with the economically highest 50 percent (26 deaths per 100,000 population). The training for American officers is thought by most foreign military authorities to be the best in the world. Nevertheless, 336,111 men were phased into the service under this plan (mostly the Army) and 2,072 were killed. Officer casualties of all branches were overwhelmingly white. See their faces. And they often show a heartbreakingly wry sense of humor with the same sensibilities as their college-bound peers. There is no question that all segments of American society were represented. For blacks, however, only 7 percent placed in categories I and II and 93 percent placed in categories III and IV. Cicely Tyson, actress, best remembered for her role in The Autobiography of Ms. Jane Pittman. A more precise equation would be that the college bound stayed home while the non-college bound served and died. The Navy fatalities were 2,556 or 2 percent. These young men were trained quickly and shipped to Vietnam quickly. 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. THE NAMES ON THE WALL: AN HISTORICAL JUDGMENT. Philip V, the first Bourbon King of Spain. Select a state to navigate through our archive of Vietnam War casualties. Named in honor of Richard Donham Coffelt. The shining surface is intended to reflect the sun, the ground and those who stand before it. Our combat arms were thought to be completely classless. Those who could have qualified for college probably did not have the funds or motivation. What the MIT study almost certainly showed was that members of the so-called working class consisting of carpenters, electricians, plumbers, firemen, policemen, technicians, skilled factory operatives, farmers, etc., were living in middle class communities and were, therefore, part of our burgeoning middle class. The "Military Factory" name and MilitaryFactory.com logo are registered ® U.S. trademarks protected by all applicable domestic and international intellectual property laws. Edith Piaf, internationally famous French cabaret singer, best remembered for her songs "La Vie en rose" and "Non, je ne regrette rein.". The Vietnam War, which lasted 10 years and claimed almost 60,000 American lives, marked a significant change in worldwide perceptions of war, death and politics--in part because it was the first such conflict ever to be reported daily on television. Deaths caused by South Vietnam From 1964 to 1975, an estimated 1,500 persons 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. Often that advice, especially for professional athletes, rock stars, sons of politicians and other celebrities, was to join the never-to-be-called-up reserves or National Guard. Vietnam War Casualties, MIA and POWs. They drew on every segment of American society. All classes were drafted or volunteered and all served and died equally, although it must be noted that most blacks died separately. Australian casualties in the Vietnam War, 1962–72 These statistics were sourced from the appendix of On the offensive: the Australian Army in the Vietnam War 1967–1968. Of all enlisted men who died in Vietnam, blacks made up 14.1 percent of the total. From 1964 to 1973, 2,100,000 men and women served in Vietnam, but this was only 8 percent of the 26,000,000 Americans who were eligible for military service. The DOD percentages reveal that nearly 75 percent of Army enlisted casualties were privates or corporals. Although it is a truism that the young die in war, one is still unprepared for the fact that 40 percent of Marine enlisted casualties in Vietnam were teenagers; that more than 16 percent of Army enlisted casualties were also teenagers; and that nearly a quarter of all enlisted casualties in Vietnam were between the ages of 17- and 19-years old. The same profile holds true for the Marine Corps, where 87 percent of all officer casualties (821 of 938) were warrant officers, lieutenants or captains. Despite their inexperience, they were thought to accept discipline readily. The trigger came when the recruiters pointed out that the volunteer could enlist as early as 17 (with parental consent); that he was allowed to select his branch of service; that he would receive specialized training if he qualified; that he could request a specific overseas assignment; and that his three year enlistment followed by three years in the inactive reserves satisfied his military obligation immediately. Killed in Action (KIA); Died while Missing. State V'nam Dead Deaths Per 100000 Pop; Alabama 1205 34.9; Alaska 57 18.8 Arizona 622 35.0 Arkansas 589 30.6 California 5572 27.9 Colorado 620 28.0 Connecticut 611 20.1 The daily summaries helped normalize Vietnam deaths in the minds of Americans. They did not, in most cases, carry the burdens of wife or children. 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. The Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) was given to all entering enlisted men. (Surprisingly, as it turned out, the percentage of Vietnam veterans who applied for the GI Bill was higher than either World War II or Korea. Adding to the problem was Project 100,000. Vietnam War casualties from Oklahoma Click or Tap on name to find a personal memorial page of a casualty from this state. The Vietnam War was no different. The Marine Corps lost 14,836, or 5 percent of its own men. The idea that American enlisted dead were made up largely of society’s poverty stricken misfits is a terrible slander to their memory and to the solid working-class and middle-class families of this country who provided the vast majority of our casualties. Congress and the Johnson administration, therefore, sought to protect our college-bound and educated young men. The Selective Service System it said, has the responsibility to deliver manpower to the armed forces in such a manner as to reduce to a minimum any adverse effect upon the national health, safety, interest and progress. Family members of the deceased veterans were on hand to receive a recognition plaque and place photos of their loved ones at the base of the memorial wall of names. Of the 4953 Navy and Air Force casualties, both officer and enlisted, 4, 736 or 96% were white. This came at a time when blacks made up 11 percent of the male population nationwide. 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