American War and Military Operations Casualties: Lists and Statistics

Table 1. Principal Wars of Conflicts in Which the United States Participated: U.S. Military Personnel Serving and Casualties

(1775-1991)

Source: Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS), https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/dcas/pages/report_principal_wars.xhtml.

Notes: Data prior to World War I are based on incomplete records in many cases. Casualty data are confined to dead and wounded and, therefore, exclude personnel captured or missing in action who were subsequently returned to military control.

a. Marine Corps data for World War II, the Spanish-American War, and prior wars represent the number of individuals wounded, whereas all other data in this column represent the total number (incidence) of wounds.

b. Number serving not known, but estimates range from 184,000 to 250,000.

c. As reported by the Commissioner of Pensions in the annual report for FY1903.

d. Authoritative statistics for the Confederate forces are not available. Estimates of the number who served range from 600,000 to 1,500,000. The final report of the Provost Marshal General, 1863-1866, indicated 133,821 Confederate deaths (74,524 battle and 59,297 other) based upon incomplete returns. In addition, an estimated 26,000 to 31,000 Confederate personnel died in Union prisons.

e. The Marine Corps number serving is included in the Navy total.

f. Number serving covers the period April 21, 1898, to August 13, 1898, whereas dead and wounded data are for the period May 1, 1898, to August 31, 1898. Active hostilities ceased on August 13, 1898, but ratifications of the Treaty of Peace were not exchanged between the United States and Spain until April 11, 1899.

g. Includes air service. Battle deaths and wounds not mortal include casualties suffered by American forces in northern Russia to August 25, 1919, and in Siberia to April 1, 1920. Other deaths cover the period from April 1, 1917, to December 31, 1918.

h. Data are for the period December 1, 1941, through December 31, 1946, when hostilities were officially terminated by presidential proclamation, but a few battle deaths or wounds not mortal were incurred after the Japanese acceptance of the Allied peace terms on August 14, 1945. Numbers serving from December 1, 1941, through August 31, 1945, were as follows: Total 14,903,213; Army 10,420,000; Navy 3,883,520; and Marine Corps 599,693.

i. Includes Army air forces, also known as the Army Air Corps.

j. Battle deaths and wounds not mortal include casualties incurred in October 1941 due to hostile action.

k. Worldwide military deaths during the Korean War totaled 54,246. In-theater casualty records are updated annually.

l. Number serving covers the period August 5, 1964 ("Vietnam era" begins), through January 27, 1973 (date of cease-fire). Deaths include the period November 1, 1955 (commencement date for the Military Assistance Advisory Group), through May 15, 1975 (date last American servicemembers left Southeast Asia). Casualty records are updated annually, including current deaths that are directly attributed to combat in the Vietnam Conflict. Additional detail shows the number of wounded-in-action servicemembers not requiring hospital care.

m. For this conflict, Coast Guard numbers are included with Navy. Report does not include one servicemember missing in action (Captain Michael "Scott" Speicher, whose remains were recovered in Iraq in 2009).

Table 2. Worldwide U.S. Active Duty Military Deaths in Selected Military Operations

(1980-1996)

Source: DCAS, https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/dcas/pages/report_operations.xhtml.

a. According to the Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms, as amended through August 31, 2005, a nonhostile casualty is a casualty that is not directly attributable to hostile action or terrorist activity, such as casualties due to the elements, self-inflicted wounds, or combat fatigue. The current version of the Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms, as amended through July 16, 2014, uses the term nonbattle casualty for nonhostile casualty. See http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/new_pubs/jp1_02.pdf.

b. The dictionary named above defines a hostile casualty as a person who is the victim of a terrorist activity or who becomes a casualty in action. In action characterizes the casualty as having been the direct result of hostile action, sustained in combat or relating thereto, or sustained going to or returning from a combat mission provided the occurrence was directly related to hostile action. Included are persons killed or wounded mistakenly or accidentally by friendly fire directed at a hostile force or what is thought to be a hostile force. However, not to be considered as sustained in action and not to be interpreted as hostile casualties are injuries or death due to the elements, self-inflicted wounds, combat fatigue, and, except in unusual cases, wounds or death inflicted by a friendly force while the individual is in an absent-without-leave, deserter, or dropped-from-rolls status or is voluntarily absent from a place of duty.

Table 3. Active Duty Military Deaths: Race/Ethnicity Summary

(as of July 25, 2009)

Source: Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC), https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/dcas/pages/Documents/RACE-OMB-WC.pdf

Note: Prior to the Korean War, race often went untracked. In the few cases in which race was tracked or recorded, soldiers were given a choice between some variation of "white" or "black"; categories such as "Hispanic or Latino," "Asian," or "Native American" were not used. "F" indicates female, and "M" indicates male.

a. Percentages of total female or male deaths, divided by ethnicity. For instance, in the Persian Gulf War, 20% of female deaths were black or African American and 80% of female deaths were white.

b. Totals may not equal 100% due to rounding. Figures include worldwide and Global War on Terror deaths.

Table 4. U.S. Active Duty Military Deaths, 1980-2010, Part I: Total Military Personnel

(as of November 2011)

Source: DCAS, https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/dcas/pages/report_by_year_manner.xhtml.

Note: Official Department of Defense (DOD) end-strengths as of December 31 for military pay accounts. Excludes full-time Guard and Reserve.

a. Full-time equivalent (FTE) is based on official DOD fiscal year end selected reserve strength (10% of the figure is used to estimate days on active duty).

Table 5. U.S. Active Duty Military Deaths, 1980- 2010, Part II: Cause of Death

(as of November 2011)

Source: DCAS, https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/dcas/pages/report_by_year_manner.xhtml.

Table 6. Korean War: Casualty Summary

(as of December 22, 2014)