I couldn’t get this out of my head, after I stupidly brought it up in a conversation on Monday. Total American casualties in Vietnam war is just under 60,000 – with over 1 million wounded American soldiers. I grew up knowing the numbers were staggering. The way adults talked about that war, the way movies portrayed the war.
The numbers of Vietnamese (North & South) soldiers who died is at 450,000 while deaths of civilians is estimated between 1,500,000 to 3,450,000.
American casualties and deaths during Vietnam conflict (first death is recorded in 1956 – last recorded death in 2006):
- Total U.S. Deaths: 58,209 (47,424 in direct combat, 10,785 other causes)
- U.S. Wounded: 1,53,303
- U.S. Missing: 1,587
- Total Casualties: 213,099 soldiers
In a little over a year, 607,365 Americans have died of COVID. 4,053,051 people globally have died as a result of this virus. In little over a year.
All this, not to compare or contrast. Only to say, we are not okay.
607,365 people in the US alone have died from COVID. That number will go up tomorrow.
The scope … the scale of loss … I can’t wrap my head around it.
We are not okay.
Data sources:
US casualties in Vietnam: https://www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/casualty-statistics
Global deaths COVID: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/world/covid-cases.html
US deaths COVID: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html