Statistical information about casualties of the Vietnam War
Electronic and Special Media Records Services Division Reference Report
- Introduction
- Tables Containing Record Counts Generated from the [Southeast Asia] Combat Area
Casualties Current File (CACCF) by:
- . . . Age at Time of Death or Declaration of Death
- . . . Branch of Service
- . . . Casualty Type
- . . . Cause of Casualty
- . . . Country of Casualty
- . . . Marital Status
- . . . Military Pay Grade
- . . . Race
- . . . Religion
- . . . Service Component
- . . . Sex
- . . . State Home of Record
- . . . Year of Death or Declaration of Death
- Contact Information
The Electronic and Special Media Records Services Division of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has custody of several computerized data files with Vietnam War casualty records. Of these, the [Southeast Asia] Combat Area Casualties Current File (CACCF), which is part of Records on Military Personnel Who Died, Were Missing in Action or Prisoners of War as a Result of the Vietnam War, in the Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Record Group 330), is considered the most comprehensive compilation of Vietnam War casualty records. A description (ARC ID: 306742) is available through NARA's Archival Research Catalog (ARC).
Because these records are in electronic form, statistical software may be used to analyze the contents of the records. As part of the archival processing of CACCF, NARA staff generated the selected statistics presented below and use them to answer frequently asked questions about the characteristics of Vietnam War casualties. These statistics were generated from the December 1998 version of CACCF transferred to NARA from the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), Washington Headquarter Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports (DIOR). This file has 58,193 records of U.S. military personnel who died between 1956 to 1998 as a result of the conflict in Southeast Asia, including those declared dead from a missing or captured status. The selected statistics are for informational purposes only. The Information Technology Management Directorate (ITMD), Washington Headquarters Services of the Office of the Secretary of Defense continues to maintain the CACCF and transfers updated versions periodically. ITMD produces official summary reports on military personnel casualties and makes some of them available online at the Department of Defense's Military Casualty Information website.
In addition, the statistics presented are not comprehensive and do not answer every possible question about the characteristics of Vietnam War casualties. By their nature, electronic records such as the CACCF can be used for a variety of analytical purposes. The statistics presented here are 'frequency counts' or simple counts of the number of records in the file containing specific values. Some categories (age at death, for example) have been grouped for more meaningful presentation. Please note: the column headings for each statistic come from the documentation for the CACCF that DIOR/OSD transferred to NARA. Anyone who seeks more complex statistics like the number of casualties, by race, with a given state home of record, can run queries of the records online through the Access to Archival Databases (AAD) resource. Or you can order a copy of the CACCF on removeable media and use your own software for whatever analysis you choose. For information about ordering a copy, please review Ordering Information for Electronic Records.
CACCF Record Counts by Age at Time of Death or Declaration of Death (as of 12/98)
Age at Time of Death/Declaration of Death | Number of Records |
---|---|
17 | 12 |
18 | 3,103 |
19 | 8,283 |
20 | 14,095 |
21 | 9,705 |
22 | 4,798 |
23 | 3,495 |
24 | 2,650 |
25 | 2,018 |
26 | 1,414 |
27 | 917 |
28 | 768 |
29 | 710 |
30-39 | 4,927 |
40-49 | 1,156 |
50-59 | 121 |
60-62 | 4 |
Unknown, Not Reported | 17 |
Total | 58,193 |
CACCF Record Counts by Branch of Service (as of 12/98)
Military Service Branch | Number of Records |
---|---|
Air Force | 2,584 |
Army | 38,209 |
Coast Guard | 7 |
Marine Corps | 14,838 |
Navy | 2,555 |
Total | 58,193 |
Record counts provided for informational purposes only, not official statistics
CACCF Record Counts by Casualty Type (as of 12/98)
Type of Casualty | Number of Records |
---|---|
Hostile, Killed in Action | 38,502 |
Hostile, Died of Wounds | 5,264 |
Hostile, Died While Missing | 3,524 |
Hostile, Died While Captured | 116 |
Non-Hostile, Died from Other Causes | 7,458 |
Non-Hostile, Died of Illness or Injury | 1,978 |
Non-Hostile, Died While Missing | 1,351 |
Total | 58,193 |
CACCF Record Counts by Country of Casualty, as of 12/98
Country of Casualty | Number of Records |
---|---|
Cambodia | 520 |
Laos | 733 |
North Vietnam | 1,124 |
Communist China | 10 |
Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) | 55,629 |
Thailand | 177 |
Total | 58,193 |
CACCF Record Counts by Marital Status, as of 12/98
Marital Status | Number of Records |
---|---|
Married | 17,215 |
Single | 40,775 |
Unknown, Not Reported | 203 |
Total | 58,193 |
CACCF Record Counts by Military Pay Grade, as of 12/98
Military Pay Grade | Number of Records |
---|---|
Enlisted (E1-E9) | 50,312 |
Officer (O1-O8) | 6,602 |
Warrant Officer (W1-W4) | 1,278 |
Unknown/Not Reported | 1 |
Total | 58,193 |
CACCF Record Counts by Race (as of 12/98)
Racial
category titles are those used in the documentation created at the genesis of
the file, ca. 1967
Race | Number of Records |
---|---|
American Indian | 226 |
Caucasian | 50,120 |
Malayan | 252 |
Mongolian | 116 |
Negro | 7,264 |
Unknown, Not Reported | 215 |
Total | 58,193 |
CACCF Record Counts by Reason (Cause of Casualty) (as of
12/98)
in order of most frequent cause to least frequent
cause
Reason (Cause of Casualty) | Number of Records |
---|---|
Gun, Small Arms Fire | 18,518 |
Multiple Fragmentary Wounds | 8,456 |
Air Loss, Crash on Land | 7,992 |
Other Explosive Devices | 7,450 |
Artillery, Rocket or Mortar | 4,914 |
Other Accident | 1,371 |
Misadventure | 1,326 |
Drowned, Suffocated | 1,207 |
Vehicle Loss, Crash | 1,187 |
Accidental Homicide | 944 |
Accidental Self Destruction | 842 |
Other Causes | 754 |
Air Loss, Crash in Sea | 577 |
Burns | 530 |
Illness, Disease | 482 |
Suicide | 382 |
Heart Attack | 273 |
Intentional Homicide | 234 |
Malaria | 118 |
Bomb Explosion | 52 |
Stroke | 42 |
Hepatitis | 22 |
Unknown, Not Reported | 520 |
Total | 58,193 |
CACCF Record Counts by Religion (as of 12/98)
Religion | Number of Records |
---|---|
Assemblies of God | 117 |
Baptist-American Baptist Church | 4 |
Baptist-Southern Baptist Church | 121 |
Baptist-Other Groups | 9,478 |
Brethren, Dunkers | 63 |
Buddhism | 53 |
Christian Science | 63 |
Church of Christ | 528 |
Church of God | 238 |
Congregational Christian | 145 |
Disciples of Christ | 34 |
Episcopal, Anglican | 825 |
Evangelical, United Brethren | 39 |
Evangelical, Reformed | 11 |
Friends, Quakers | 12 |
Jehovah's Witnesses | 26 |
Jewish | 269 |
Latter Day Saints, Mormon | 589 |
Lutheran & Missouri Synod | 2,251 |
Methodist | 4,079 |
Mission Covenant | 1 |
Moslem, Muslim | 12 |
Nazarene | 132 |
Orthodox, Greek | 58 |
Orthodox, Russian | 22 |
Pentecostal | 182 |
Presbyterian | 1,303 |
Protestant-Other Churches | 559 |
Protestant-No Preference | 16,644 |
Reformed | 45 |
Roman Catholic | 16,815 |
Seventh Day Adventist | 116 |
Unitarian Universalist | 45 |
United Church of Christ | 11 |
No Religious Preference | 1,284 |
Other Religions | 210 |
Unknown, Not Reported | 1,809 |
Total | 58,193 |
CACCF Record Counts by Service Component (as of 12/98)
Service Component | Number of Records |
---|---|
Military Reserves | 5,760 |
National Guard | 97 |
Regular Military | 34,475 |
Selective Service | 17,672 |
Unknown, Not Reported | 189 |
Total | 58,193 |
CACCF Record Counts by Sex (as of 12/98)
Sex | Number of Records |
---|---|
Female | 8 |
Male | 58,185 |
Total | 58,193 |
CACCF Record Counts by State Home of Record (as of 12/98)
Note that State Lists of Vietnam War casualties are also available online, sorted both alphabetically by last name and by home place of record. Please see:
State Level Lists of Casualties from the Vietnam War.
State Home of Record | Number of Records |
---|---|
Alabama | 1,207 |
Alaska | 57 |
Arizona | 623 |
Arkansas | 588 |
California | 5,573 |
Canal Zone | 2 |
Colorado | 620 |
Connecticut | 611 |
Delaware | 122 |
District of Columbia | 242 |
Florida | 1,952 |
Georgia | 1,582 |
Guam | 70 |
Hawaii | 276 |
Idaho | 217 |
Illinois | 2,934 |
Indiana | 1,532 |
Iowa | 853 |
Kansas | 627 |
Kentucky | 1,055 |
Louisiana | 882 |
Maine | 343 |
Maryland | 1,014 |
Massachusetts | 1,323 |
Michigan | 2,654 |
Minnesota | 1,072 |
Mississippi | 637 |
Missouri | 1,413 |
Montana | 268 |
Nebraska | 395 |
Nevada | 151 |
New Hampshire | 227 |
New Jersey | 1,484 |
New Mexico | 399 |
New York | 4,121 |
North Carolina | 1,609 |
North Dakota | 198 |
Ohio | 3,096 |
Oklahoma | 988 |
Oregon | 709 |
Pennsylvania | 3,144 |
Puerto Rico | 345 |
Rhode Island | 207 |
South Carolina | 896 |
South Dakota | 193 |
Tennessee | 1,291 |
Texas | 3,415 |
Utah | 366 |
Vermont | 100 |
Virgin Islands | 15 |
Virginia | 1,304 |
Washington | 1,050 |
West Virginia | 732 |
Wisconsin | 1,161 |
Wyoming | 120 |
Other (non-U.S. home of record) | 121 |
Total | 58,193 |
CACCF Record Counts by Year of Death or Declaration of Death (as of 12/98)
Year of Death or Declaration of Death | Number of Records |
---|---|
1956-1960 | 9 |
1961 | 16 |
1962 | 52 |
1963 | 118 |
1964 | 206 |
1965 | 1,863 |
1966 | 6,143 |
1967 | 11,153 |
1968 | 16,592 |
1969 | 11,616 |
1970 | 6,081 |
1971 | 2,357 |
1972 | 641 |
1973 | 168 |
1974 | 178 |
1975 | 161 |
1976 | 77 |
1977 | 96 |
1978 | 447 |
1979 | 148 |
1980 | 26 |
1981-1990 | 34 |
1991-1998 | 11 |
Total | 58,193 |
Contact Information
For more information, please contact Reference Services, Electronic and Special Media Records Services Division (NWME), The National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001. The telephone number is (301) 837-0470 and the e-mail address is cer@nara.gov.
THEODORE J. HULL
Archives Specialist
Electronic and Special Media Records Services Division
Revised 12/02; 8/05; 2/07
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