WWII Casualties

bigpigeon.us webpage WWII US > WWII Casualties, © 2023 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated by RAC 22 Nov 2023.
World War II United Sates Military Casualties
Working on 21 Nov 2023. Much of this material will be moved to subpages.

Big Pigeon's WWII Casualties subpages:

The official summary of United States WWII dead and wounded, as of November 2023, follows

United States Casualties in World War II

Commentary on the above table:

The Army row includes the United States Army Air Force.
I don't know yet if the Navy row includes the United States Coast Guard.
Data is for the period 7 Dec 1941-31 Dec 1946, plus early Navy combat deaths in the Atlantic in October 1941.
All civilian deaths, including Merchant Marine members, are excluded.
Army Total Deaths include 5,800 from Iowa and 5,337, mostly Philippine Scouts, from the Philippines.
The Navy recorded only major wounds such as those requiring evacuation of the casualty to a rear area. Thus, the Navy wounded count is lower than expected.
This table is courtesy of the Defense Casualty Analysis System and was found at https://dcas.dmdc.osd.mil/dcas/app/summaryData/casualties/principalWars.

This webpage consists of seven tables, arranged in three parts, showing WWII US military casualties:

Part 1 - Total United States casualties.
Part 2 - US Casualties as reported by the War and Navy Departments.
Part 3 - US Casualties by service branch: Army; Air Force; Navy; Marine Corps.

dAbout WWII Casualty Codes and Death Codes:

Military doctrine specifies four categories of casualties resulting from a combat-related operation: killed; wounded; taken prisoner; missing.
Major casualty codes used by the War Department: KIA - Killed in Action; WIA - Wounded in Action; POW - Prisoner of War; MIA - Missing in Action.
Similar to casualty codes were death codes. The most common was also KIA.
A death code of DOW denoted a WIA casulty who later died of wounds. (Occasionally the death code DOI (Died Of Injuries) was used to denote a death from a combat-related injury.)
A POW who died as a prisoner from military action (e.g., killed by an air raid on the POW camp) would receive a death code of KIA.
In WWII, a missing casualty who remained missing would be carried on the rolls for at least a year, and then would usually receive a death code of FOD (Finding Of Death).
The War Department assigned those who died, but didn't warrant a KIA status, the death code of DNB (Died Non Battle).
A prisoner who died in captivity generally received a death code of DNB, unless they died as a result of hostile action.
The Navy Department used different codes.
Navy Department data did not single out the missing in action and sometimes omitted the lightly wounded.
Rather than receive a death code like FOD, deceased Navy or Marine personnel who didn't die from operations related to combat were omitted from the Navy Department roster of dead.

About the following casualty tables:

Columns: first - casualty count; second - casualty survival count; third - casualty dead count.
For the Army and Army Air Force, I use Source 1 in the list of sources at the end of this webpage.
For the Navy and Marine Corps, there is no standard reliable source. Different sources would produce different numbers in my tables.

Part 1 - Total United States Military Casualties 1941-1946
(summing the counts in Part 2)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Killed in Action (KIA) 241,679 Wounded in Action (WIA) 697,155
Prisoner of War (POW) 130,272
Missing in Action (MIA)
------------
US Casualty Total 1,069,106

WIA - Survived   668,192
POW - Survived   115,900
MIA - Survived
------------
US Casualty Survivals 684,092

Killed in Action 241,679
WIA - Died of Wounds 28,963
POW - Died while prisoner 14,072
MIA - Died while missing
------------
US Casualty Deaths

==> Part 2 - US Casualties as reported by the War and Navy Departments <==

War Department - US Army Casualties 1941-1946 (including Army Air Force)
copied to WWII Casualties > Army, 26 Nov 2023
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Killed in Action (KIA) 189,696
Wounded in Action (WIA) 592,170
Prisoner of War (POW) 124,079
Missing in Action (MIA) 30,314
------------
Casualty Total 936,259
War Department

WIA - Survived 565,861
POW - Survived 111,426
MIA - Survived 24,098
------------
Casualty Survivals 701,385
War Department

Killed in Action 189,696
WIA - Died of Wounds 26,309 POW - Died while prisoner 12,653
MIA - Died while missing 6,216
------------
Casualty Deaths 234,874
War Department

Navy Department - US Navy, Marine Corps & Coast Guard Casualties 1941-1946
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Killed in Action (KIA) 51,983
Wounded in Action (WIA) 104,985
Prisoner of War (POW) 6,193
Missing in Action (MIA)
------------
Casualty Total
Navy Department

WIA - Survived   102,331
POW - Survived   4,774
MIA - Survived
------------
Casualty Survivals
Navy Department

Killed in Action 51,983
WIA - Died of Wounds 2,654
POW - Died while prisoner 1,419
MIA - Died while missing
------------
Casualty Deaths
Navy Department

==> Part 3 - US Casualties by service branch: Army; Air Force; Navy; Marine Corps <==

US Army Casualties (less Army Air Force) 1941-1946
copied to WWII Casualties > Army, 26 Nov 2023
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Killed in Action (KIA) 144,911
Wounded in Action (WIA) 573,806
Prisoner of War (POW) 83,022
Missing in Action (MIA) 19,138
------------
US Army Casualty Total 820,877

WIA - Survived 548,502
POW - Survived   73,132
MIA - Survived   16,542
------------
Army Casualty Survivals 638,176

Killed in Action 144,911
WIA - Died of Wounds 25,304
POW - Died while prisoner 9,890
MIA - Died while missing 2,596
-----------
Army Casualty Deaths 182,701

US Army Air Force Casualties 1941-1946
copied to WWII Casualties > Army, 26 Nov 2023
------------------------------------------------------------

Killed in Action (KIA) 44,785
Wounded in Action (WIA) 18,364
Prisoner of War (POW) 41,057
Missing in Action (MIA) 11,176
------------
USAAF Casualty Total 115,382

WIA - Survived   17,359
POW - Survived   38,294
MIA - Survived   7,556
------------
USAAF Casualty Survivals 63,209

Killed in Action 44,785
WIA - Died of Wounds 1,005
POW - Died while prisoner 2,763
MIA - Died while missing 3,620
------------
USAAF Casualty Deaths 52,173

US Navy Casualties 1941-1946 - copied to WWII Casualties > Navy 25 Nov 2023
----------------------------------------------

Killed in Action (KIA) 34,014
Wounded in Action (WIA) 37,778
Prisoner of War (POW) 3,379
Missing in Action (MIA) unknown
------------
US Navy Casualty Total 75,171

WIA - Survived 35,941
POW - Survived 2,640
MIA - Survived unknown
------------ Navy Casualty Survivals 38,581

Killed in Action 34,014
WIA - Died of Wounds 1,837
POW - Died while prisoner 739
MIA - Died while missing 190
------------
Navy Casualty Deaths

US Navy casualty notes:

Source 3 below gives a killed in action figure of 34,004, a died while prisoner figure of 919, and an other deaths due to enemy action, which I use, of 190.

US Marine Corps Casualties 1941-1946 - copied to WWII Casualties > Marine Corps 25 Nov 2023
------------------------------------------------------------

Killed in Action (KIA) 17,376
Wounded in Action (WIA) 68,207
Prisoner of War (POW) 2,274
Missing in Action (MIA) unknown
------------
USMC Casualty Total 87,857

WIA - Survived       67,207
POW - Survived       1,756
MIA - Survived unknown
------------
USMC Casualty Survivals 68,963

Killed in Action 17,376
WIA - Died of Wounds 1,000
POW - Died while prisoner 518
MIA - Died while missing unknown
------------
USMC Casualty Deaths 18,904

US Marine Corps casualty notes:

The right two columns total to 87,871 rather than 87,857.

Sources for Big Pigeon's WWII US > WWII Casualties webpage:

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/ref/Casualties/Casualties-Intro.html - Army Battle Casualties and Nonbattle Deaths in World War II, Final Report, 7 December 1941 - 31 December 1946, p. 5 - for the above US Army and US Army Air Force data.
https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/w/world-war-ii-casualties.html - World War II Casualties, Navy Heritage and History Command - used for the following US Navy and US Marine Corps data: Killed in Action; Died of Wounds; Died as Prisoner.
https://www.naval-history.net/WW2UScasaaDB-USNaNOTEonTOTALS.htm - World War 2 - United States Navy at War, UNITED STATES NAVY CASUALTIES - INTERIM NOTE ON NUMBERS, 2017 - This is death and not casualty data.
https://www.marines.mil/Portals/1/Publications/History%20of%20the%20U.S.%20Marine%20Corps%20in%20WWII%20Vol%20V%20-%20Victory%20and%20Occupation%20%20PCN%2019000262800_5.pdf - Marine POWs.
http://www.indianarollingthunder.com/nationalpowstatistics.html - National POW Statistics.