News-Info-Alerts

Re: Veteran's Day Remembrance

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: November 07, 2003

"Honoring those who died...and those who sacrificed

United States military personnel have fought and died in wars since the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783).

During that war, 4,435 died in combat with 6,188 wounded.

During the Indian Wars (1783-1890) approximately 1,000 died with an unknown number of wounded. In The War of 1812 (1812-1815) 2,260 soldiers died with 4,505 wounded; the U.S.-Mexican War (1846-1848) casualties were (combat) 1,733; (other causes) 11,550 with 4,152 wounded.

During the Civil War (1861-1865) 74,524 Confederate soldiers died, 137,000+ were wounded; 110,070 Union soldiers died; 272,175 were wounded.

In the Spanish-American War (1898) 385 soldiers died in combat, 2,061 died of other causes and 1,662 were wounded; during the Philippine-American War (1899-1901) 1,109 soldiers died in combat, 2,108 died of other causes and 2,779 were wounded.

World War I (1917-1918) casualties were (combat) 53,513 (other causes) 63,195; with 204,002 wounded.
In World War II (1941-1945) 292,131 American soldiers died in combat with 115,185 dying of other causes. There were 670,846 soldiers wounded.

During the Korean War (1950-1953) 33,651 American military personnel were killed (in-theater: 2,830; not-in-theater: 17,730) with 103,284 wounded.

(There is controversy over the total number of deaths from the Korean War. And nearly 8,000 American military personnel are listed as "Missing In Action" (MIA) in Korea. They are not included in the death totals, although by now they should all be considered dead.)

In the Vietnam War (1964-1975) there were 47,369 combat deaths with 10,799 soldiers dying of other causes. There were 153,303 wounded.

(The numbers of Vietnam dead changes periodically as more remains are found in Southeast Asia and are identified. Approximately 2,500 service personnel were listed as "Missing In Action" (MIA) after the war.
Gulf War casualties are (combat) 148 with deaths by other causes at 145. There were 467 soldiers wounded.

For the ongoing wars today in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Philippines and the Persian Gulf, from 2001 as of April 7, 2003 216 American military have died in combat and from other causes. There have been approximately 533 wounded. (Ten in the Philippines were from a helicopter crash.)

There has also been a terrible number of American military personnel who were prisoners of war.
Charles A. Stenger, Ph.D. prepared a statistical report on POWs, presented Jan. 1, 2003, developed in cooperation with the Department of Defense and other sources.

For all wars, 142,233 American soldiers were captured and interned as prisoners (WWI, 4,120; WWII, 130,201; Korean, 7,140; Vietnam, 725; Persian Gulf, 21; Somalia, 1; Kosovo, 3).

For all wars, 17,004 American soldiers died during captivity (WWI, 147; WWII, 14,075; Korean, 2,701; Vietnam, 64).

Twenty-one American military personnel refused repatriation, all of those from the Korean War. Of that 21, only one POW remains in China, one died and 19 left China for Western countries.
As of Jan. 1, 1982, POWS still alive from all wars numbered 93,030; as of Jan. 1, 2003, 39,029 American POWS were still alive.

During the Civil War, 220,000 were captured by the North, with 26,436 dying during imprisonment; 126,950 were captured by the South, with 22,576 dying while imprisoned.
Unofficial reports from the American Revolution indicated up to 11,000 died during captivity, most while confined on prison ships in New York harbor.

Not included in World War II data is Merchant Marines casualties of 4,780 missing, 882 dead (including 37 POWs) and 572 released from captivity with one civilian POW accounted for. Approximately 183 are alive as of Jan. 1, 2003.

Not included in WWII casualty data are 1,146 construction workers on Wake Island and 69 American Airline employees on Guam. Both were deemed veterans for VA purposes. Approximately 600 were captured with approximately 116 of that number alive on Jan. 1, 2003.

More than 92,000 have been lost in either combat or MIA status and remains have never been recovered.
As of Jan. 1, 2003, 86,178 (69%) POWs, out of the original 125,206 surviving captivity are now deceased.
(The above information was contributed by John Dabney Brown, former POW).

©The South Reporter, Inc. 2003 "