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bigpigeon.us webpage WWII US > Casualties > Dead, © 2025 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated by RAC 20 Feb 2025
Incomplete. Much of this will be moved to other subpages.
==> United States World War II Military Deaths
About the following tables:
  • Death codes: KIA - Killed in Action; DOW - Died of Wounds; FOD - Finding of Death; DNB - Died Non-Battle.
US Army Dead 1941-1946
Death Count by Category
​Killed in Action                     189,696
POW - Killed in Action             3,102
WIA - Died of Wounds          26,309
POW - Died of Wounds              453
MIA - Declared Dead               6,058
POW non-battle dead             9,098
MIA non-battle dead              1,598
                                                  ---------
​Total Casualty Dead        234,874
Total Casualty Dead          234,874
Total Other Dead                 83,400
                                                  ______
Total US Army Dead        318,274
US Army Air Force Dead 1941-1946 (included in above tables)
Killed in Action                        45,520
WIA - Died of Wounds             1,140
MIA - Declared Dead               3,603
POW/MIA non-battle dead    1,910
                                                  ---------
Total Casualty Dead           52,173
Aircraft Accidents                  25,844
Remaining Non-Battle          10,102
                                                  ---------
Total Other Dead                35,946
Total Casualty Dead             52,173
​Total Other Dead                  35,946
                                                 ---------
Total US Air Force Dead    88,119
US Navy Dead 1941-1946
Killed in Action                       30,831
Killed in Action - Air Combat  3,173
Died of Wounds                       1,837
Died Prisoner of War                 919
Other Combat-Related              190
                                                 ----------
Total Casualty Dead           36,950
Died of Natural Causes           5,533
Aviation Accidents                   8,184
Other Not Combat-Related  11,947
​                                                 ----------
Total Other Dead                 25,664
Total Casualty Dead             36,950
Total Other Dead                  25,664
                                                 ----------
Total US Navy Dead            62,614
US Marine Corps Dead 1941-1946
Killed in Action                       17,376
Died of Wounds                       1,682
Died Prisoner of War                 510
                                                   --------
Total Casualty Dead           19,568
Other reports give WWII USMC combat-related dead as 19,733.
Total Casualty Dead             19,568
Total Other Dead                    5,057
                                                ----------
Total US Marine Dead       24,625
Total US Military Dead 1941-1946
 Service Branch
​US Army (less Army Air Force)
US Army Air Force
US Navy
US Marine Corps
US Coast Guard
​
Total Dead
Casualty Dead
​182,701
   52,173
   36,950
​   19,568
​575
-----------​
291,96​7
Other​Dead
47,454
35,946
25,664
  5,057
1,343
----------
115,464​
Total Dead
230,155
  88,119
  62,614
  24,625
​1,918
​----------
407,431​
Other United States deaths attributable to WW II:
  • 9K - Merchant Marine (however, many were perhaps not United States residents). Civilian merchant mariners had a high death rate; 215,000 served, 8,600 died, however this may include some foreign nationals. In addition, merchant marine ships generally carried Navy gun crews, where 145,000 served and 1,800 died.
  • 2K - Other Civilians - most died while interned or from friendly fire (my estimate)
  • 4K - Veterans who died of wounds, physical or psychic, after release from service (my estimate)

​==> Part 4 - United States World War II Military - Burial of the Dead
​(to be completed later)
The World War II US Missing:
Unlike the Vietnam War, Americans in WW II who went missing, either in combat or from accidents, and didn't resurface were declared dead, usually after one year, unless evidence existed to support otherwise. However, there are over 70,000 Americans whose bodies have not been recovered and identified. These are what are now known as the WW II missing. Lists of the WWII missing are available at https://www.dpaa.mil, the website of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

Of the over 400,000 US military personnel who died during WWII, about 45,000 died stateside and 370,000 overseas. For those who died stateside, next of kin generally made the burial arrangements. Here I summarize what I know about those who died overseas.

Many who died on land were first buried nearby. As the war progressed, numerous cemeteries, most of a temporary nature, were established. xxx lists the cemeteries established by the army, both overseas and stateside.

After WWII ended, next of kin of those who died overseas had the option of either having their loved one interred in an overseas cemetery or returned stateside to the next-of-kin, both at federal expense. Here are figures, mostly approximate, for the burial locations of the WWII dead who died in theater:
Buried overseas in American Battle Monument Commission cemeteries
Buried in Hawaii in National Cemetery of the Pacific
Bodies returned to continental United States
​The remaining unaccounted for as of March 2022
92,958

​
72.348
==> Global World War II Military and Civilian Deaths
We cannot hope to know the total worldwide deaths - military and civilian - caused by WWII. Even reliable approximations are surprisingly hard to find. Figures offered by seemingly solid sources are often incorrect. As two examples:
  • The French Army Museum at Les Invalides in Paris has ignored my two request to include Hungarian deaths of around 300,000 military and 600,000 civilians in their display of World War II losses by country.  
  • For years, figures for total Allied deaths in Normandy on D-Day were grossly understated at 2,500. Recent research gives a confirmed figure of 4,400+, of whom about 2,500 were American.

The problem of unreliable data is compounded by slopping writing and the misuse of the word casualty. A casualty is either killed, wounded, captured, or missing during combat operations and thus is no longer an effective combatant. In most land combat, casualties far outnumber those killed.
  • As an example of sloppy writing, I quote from a recent history.com article: "German casualties on D-Day, meanwhile, have been estimated to be between 4,000 and 9,000 killed, wounded or missing. The Allies also captured some 200,000 German prisoners of war." The first figures are for June 6 only. The 200,000 captured figure is for the entire Normandy Campaign, which began on June 6 and ended weeks later. ​​
​Sources for Big Pigeon's WWII US > Casualties > Dead webpage: