Vietnam stats

[snopes]

Comment: Can you confirm the following 'facts'?

1. 9,087,000 military personnel served on active duty during the official
Vietnam era, 8/5/64-5/7/75.
2. 997 were killed on their first day of arrival.
3. 1143 were killed on the day of their scheduled departure.
4. Medal of Honor was awarded to 240 recipients from the war.

[Lainie]

283 Congressional Medals of Honor were awarded during the Vietnam conflict, according to The Official Site of the Medal of Honor.

During the Civil War, when the MoH was the only military medal for valor, 1,527 were awarded.

[jimmy101_again]

Originally Posted by Lainie

During the Civil War, when the MoH was the only military medal for valor, 1,527 were awarded.

You really can't compare the medals awarded during the Civil War with the Vietnam war. The criteria for the medal were completely different in the two eras.

Twenty some MOHs were awarded to the funeral bearers for Lincoln.

24 MOHs were awarded for the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

110 were awarded during the Spanish-American war. (I seem to recall that all officers that saw combat were awarded the MOH?)

It wasn't until about WW-I that the current, very restrictive, requirements were put in place.

[Lainie]

Originally Posted by jimmy101_again

You really can't compare the medals awarded during the Civil War with the Vietnam war. The criteria for the medal were completely different in the two eras.

Twenty some MOHs were awarded to the funeral bearers for Lincoln.

24 MOHs were awarded for the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

110 were awarded during the Spanish-American war. (I seem to recall that all officers that saw combat were awarded the MOH?)

It wasn't until about WW-I that the current, very restrictive, requirements were put in place.

Did you miss the second sentence in my post?

ETA: No, wait, it's even more confusing than that: you clearly read the second sentence, but missed the middle part of it. And I wasn't "comparing," I was contrasting.

[jimmy101_again]

Ya can't "contrast" without "comparing", indeed "contrast" is a subset of "compare". I was mearly following up on your post.

[Majorsam]

In the OP, #1 can be an accurate statement. I easily found one number of 8.7 Million, but that was from 1964-1973 when the ceasefire started. Since the US was in Vietnam well before that and for a year or two after, the 9 million number is probably close enough for government work.

For #2 and #3 I couldn't find anything although I did find this which is an interesting statistical breakdown of Vietnam War casualties for US Forces which broke two long-standing myths for me, the first that the average age of soldiers killed in Vietnam was nineteen (or, I should say, n..n...n...nineteen), and that African Americans were overly represented in the death figures. Both appear to be incorrect.

Back to 2 & 3...my question would be how the heck would anyone compile that data? In modern casualty reporting we of course say name, SSN, rank, unit, how they were killed, where they were killed, religion...but unless things have changed a lot, I don't think that "what day of tour" was something that anyone would know, let alone take the time to fill out.

I'm kind of skeptical about it, though. The first day in Vietnam, while certainly dangerous, would have been spent in a replacement depot or a comparatively safe area. Same with the last day. Soldiers weren't airlifted out after spending the night on the line as a rule.

And, forgive the macabre humor, I have to point out that the number of soldiers killed in Vietnam on their last day was closer to 58,000.

[Troberg]

Back to 2 & 3...my question would be how the heck would anyone compile that data? In modern casualty reporting we of course say name, SSN, rank, unit, how they were killed, where they were killed, religion...but unless things have changed a lot, I don't think that "what day of tour" was something that anyone would know, let alone take the time to fill out.

I would expect that date of death is included in the report. The rest is just a cross reference with the record of their tour dates.

[PointySextant]

Originally Posted by snopes

Comment: Can you confirm the following 'facts'?

1. 9,087,000 military personnel served on active duty during the official
Vietnam era, 8/5/64-5/7/75.
2. 997 were killed on their first day of arrival.
3. 1143 were killed on the day of their scheduled departure.
4. Medal of Honor was awarded to 240 recipients from the war.

I will submit a FOIA for these, but I fear that specifics for the deaths will be difficult to confirm due to the sometimes inaccurate record keeping during Vietnam, as sometimes men were classified as KIA or MIA without any remains, and were still considered KIA or MIA after they had re mustered with their platoons. As a result, it is possible for two conflicting figures to be equally accurate depending on what your criterion are.

[Matt H.]

Originally Posted by Majorsam

Back to 2 & 3...my question would be how the heck would anyone compile that data? In modern casualty reporting we of course say name, SSN, rank, unit, how they were killed, where they were killed, religion...but unless things have changed a lot, I don't think that "what day of tour" was something that anyone would know, let alone take the time to fill out.

I don't know if this was true in Vietnam, but in OIF the DOD tracks how long casualties and fatalities were in country at the time of their injuries/deaths. The reason for this is to see if there is a pattern (if a disproportionate amount are early in their respective tours, it can be inferred that lack of experience, training, or both may be responsible; if more incidents occur toward the ends of deployments, it could be a sign that complacency is an issue.)

The rest of your points hold true, AFAIK.

[damian]

Originally Posted by Majorsam

And, forgive the macabre humor, I have to point out that the number of soldiers killed in Vietnam on their last day was closer to 58,000.

Originally Posted by snopes

1. 9,087,000 military personnel served on active duty during the official Vietnam era, 8/5/64-5/7/75.

Where would one find figures for the number of NVA and VC and, indeed, RVN Army personnel involved? Or are we only counting "our" side?

Australia sent over 50,000 soldiers, of which there were 413 KIA/DoW and 2 MIA.

(On a personal note, my dad proudly served in D Coy 6RAR and only recently received his long overdue service medals.)