Thank you for inquiring about the Vietnam
War, and its impact upon U.S. veterans and the United States of
America. Americans call the war, The Vietnam War, and conversely,
Vietnam now calls it The American War. Whatever a war is named, the
truism that war is hell rings clear in this war that saw
casualties of horrendous proportions:*
Combatants Killed in Action: 1,382,430
Combatants Wounded in Action: 1,772,465
Combatants MIA/POW: 2,503 (Allied Forces)
Civilians Killed, Vietnamese: 2,000,000
Civilians Killed, Allied: 1,000 (est.) * Body Count!: Battle Casualties
for Allied, Communist, and civilians killed and wounded
Casualties - US vs. NVA/VC
U.S. Combatants in the Vietnam War
There were 10 million Americans under arms during the [Vietnam] war. Of
the 2.7 million Americans served in the Vietnam war, 300,000 were
wounded in action, and 75,000 were disabled. Of the casualties listed
on The Wall, approximately 1,300 remain missing in action. "The average
age was 19, America's youngest combatants." Note: The quote was written
by Country Joe McDonald in 1991 for the Community Memory Alameda County
War Memorial Project (\doc\web\97\06\vietnam.txt).
McNamara's "mistakes" In Retrospect
[http://199.172.47.21/ZMag/articles/oldchom.htm]: A level of moral
blindness that is hard to capture in words By Noam Chomsky "As the 20th
anniversary approached, the government of Vietnam released new figures
on casualties, generally accepted here and conforming to earlier
estimates. The Communists declared, in an official press release to
Agence France, that we had actually killed 1.1 million NVA soldiers.
Hanoi reported in an official press release to Agence France, that 2
million civilians had been killed, the overwhelming majority in the
south, along with 1.1 million North Vietnamese and southern resistance
fighters ("Viet Cong," in the terminology of U.S. propaganda). It
listed an additional 300,000 missing in action. Washington reports
225,000 killed in the army of its client regime ("South Vietnam"). The
CIA estimates 600,000 Cambodians killed during the U.S. phase of what
the one independent governmental inquiry (Finland) calls the "Decade of
Genocide" in Cambodia: 1969 through 1978. Tens if not hundreds of
thousands more were killed in Laos, mainly by U.S. attacks that were in
large part unrelated to the war in Vietnam, Washington conceded."
The toll in Indochina also includes the
58,229 U.S. soldiers killed and 2,000 MIAs, along with more than 5,000
killed from Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Thailand, and
elsewhere.
VIETNAM WARRIORS: A STATISTICAL PROFILE
IN UNIFORM AND IN COUNTRY
* Vietnam Vets: 9.7% of
their generation.
* 9,087,000 military personnel served on active duty
during the Vietnam era (Aug. 5, 1964-May 7, 1975).
* 8,744,000 GIs were on active duty during the war
(Aug. 5, 1964-March 28, 1973).
* 3,403,100 (including 514,300 offshore) personnel
served in the Southeast Asia Theater (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, flight
crews based in Thailand, and sailors in adjacent South China Sea
waters).
* 2,594,000 personnel served within the borders of
South Vietnam (Jan. 1, 1965-March 28, 1973).
* Another 50,000 men served in Vietnam between 1960
and 1964.
* Of the 2.6 million , between 1-1.6 million
(40-60%) either fought in combat, provided close support or were at
least fairly regularly exposed to enemy attack.
* 7,484 women (6,250 or 83.5% were nurses) served in
Vietnam.
* Peak troop strength in Vietnam: 543,482 (April 30,
1969).
CASUALTIES
* Hostile deaths: 47,378.
* Non-hostile deaths: 10,800.
* Total: 58,202 (includes men formerly classified as
MIA and Mayaquez casualties). Men who have subsequently died of wounds
account for the changing total.
* 8 nurses died---1 was KIA.
* Married men killed: 17,539
* 61% of the men killed were 21 or younger.
* Highest state death rate: West Virginia---84.1
(national average 58.9 for every 100,000 males in 1970).
* Wounded: 303,704---153,329 hospitalized + 150,375
injured requiring no hospital care.
* Severely disabled: 75,000---23,214 100% disabled;
5,283 lost limbs; 1,081 sustained multiple amputations.
* Amputation or crippling wounds to the lower
extremities were 300% higher than in WWII and 70% higher than in Korea.
Multiple amputations occurred at the rate of 18.4% compared to 5.7% in
WWII.
* Missing in Action: 2,338.
* POWs: 766 (114 died in captivity).
DRAFTEES VS. VOLUNTEERS
* 25% (648,500) of total
forces in country were draftees.
* Draftees accounted for 30.4% (17,725) of combat
deaths in Vietnam.
* Reservists killed: 5,977.
* National Guard: 6,140 served; 101 died.
* Total draftees (1965-73): 1,728,344.
* Actually served in Vietnam: 38%.
* Marine Corps draft: 42,633.
* Last man drafted: June 30, 1973.
RACE AND ETHNIC BACKGROUND
* 88.4% of the men who
actually served in Vietnam were Caucasian; 10.6% (275,000) were black;
1% belonged to other races.
* 86.3% of the men who died in Vietnam were
Caucasian (includes Hispanics); 12.5% (7,241) were black; 1.2% belonged
to other races.
* 170,000 Hispanics served in Vietnam; 3,070 (5.2%
of total) died there.
* 70% of enlisted men killed were of Northwest
European descent.
* 86.8% of the men who were killed as a result of
hostile action were Caucasian; 12.1% (5,711) were black; 1.1% belonged
to other races.
* 14.6% (1,530) of non-combat deaths were among
blacks.
* 34% of blacks who enlisted volunteered for the
combat arms.
* Overall, blacks suffered 12.5% of the deaths in
Vietnam at a time when the percentage of blacks of military age was
13.5% of the total population.
* Religion of Dead: Protestant (64.4%); Catholic
(28.9%); Other/None (6.7%).
SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS
* 76% of the men sent to
Vietnam were from lower middle/working class backgrounds.
* Three-fourths had family incomes above the poverty
level; 50% were from middle income backgrounds.
* Some 23% of Vietnam vets had fathers with
professional, managerial or technical occupations.
* 79% of the men who served in Vietnam had a high
school education or better when they entered the military service. (63%
of Korean War vets and only 45% of WWII vets had completed high school
upon separation).
* Deaths by region per 100,000 of population:
South---31; West---29.9; Midwest---28.4; Northeast---23.5.
WINNING AND LOSING
* 82% of veterans who saw
heavy combat strongly believe the war was lost because of lack of
political will.
* Nearly 75% of the public agrees it was a failure
of political will, not of arms.
HONORABLE SERVICE
* 97% of Vietnam-era
veterans were honorably discharged.
* 91% of actual Vietnam War veterans and 90% of
those who saw heavy combat are proud to have served their country.
* 66% of Vietnam vets say they would serve again if
called upon.
* 87% of the public now holds Vietnam veterans in
high esteem.
