TABLE 2-23
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND NOTES
A. 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.
B. 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.
C. Not known, but estimates range from 184,000 to 250,000.
D. As reported by the Commissioner of Pensions in his annual report for fiscal year 1903.
E. 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.
F. Number serving covers the period April 21 to August 13, 1898, while dead and wounded data are for
the period May 1 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
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. Number serving from December 1, 1941,
through August 31, 1945, were: Total - 14,903,213; Army - 10,420,000; Navy - 3,883,520; and Marine Corps - 599,693.
I. Includes Army air forces.
J. Battle deaths and wounds not mortal include casualties incurred in October 1941 due to hostile action.
K. Tentative final data based on information available as of September 30, 1954, at which time 24 persons
were still carried as missing in action.
L. As reported in "Battle Casualties and Medical Statistics: U.S. Army Experience in the Korean War" by
Frank Reister, published by the Surgeon General of the Department of the Army in 1973. This figure represents
nonbattle admissions in Korea and includes deaths resulting from injuries, suicides, homicides, and disease.
M. Number serving covers the period August 4, 1964, through January 27, 1973, (date of cease-fire).
Wounds not mortal exclude 150,332 persons not requiring hospital care. Known status of casualties is as of
September 30, 1995.