A VIETNAM WAR DIARY
The Cost
 
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The Cost

  • An estimated total of 2,122,244 were killed and 3,650,946 wounded.
  • 58,169 Americans were killed (11,465 of them were teenagers) and 304,000 wounded.
  • More than 74,000 French had been killed before the first Americans arrived in 1956.
  • 501 Australian military personnel and 7 civilians were killed; 2,069 were wounded. The average Australian soldier in Vietnam was 20 years old and saw 314 days of combat in a period of one year. The average World War 11 soldier in the South Pacific had been 26 years old and saw 40 days of combat in a period of four years.
  • 444,000 North Vietnamese and 220,557 South Vietnamese military personnel and 587,000 civilians were killed.
  • 2,590,000 Americans and 59,520 Australians served in Vietnam
  • 6,727,084 tons of bombs were dropped (compared with 2,700,000 tons dropped on Germany during World War 11.)
  • 3,750 fixed wing aircraft and 4,865 helicopters were lost. Australia lost 2 fixed wing aircraft and 10 helicopters.
  • 3,500,000 acres of Vietnam were spayed with defoliants, the effect of which will last up to 100 years.

       

 

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