How Many People Have Died in the Army?
The number of people who have died while serving in the United States Army is a difficult statistic to accurately measure. The Department of Defense does not keep an official count of military deaths, and instead relies on individual branches of the military to report their own numbers.
However, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, there have been over 1.3 million deaths in the U.S. military since 1775. This includes all wars and conflicts, from the Revolutionary War to present day operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Deaths During Major Wars
The most recent major conflict was the Iraq War, which lasted from 2003-2011. During this time, 4,491 American soldiers were killed in action. The Vietnam War saw 58,220 American fatalities between 1964-1973, while World War II resulted in 405,399 deaths between 1941-1945.
The deadliest war in American history was the Civil War (1861-1865), with an estimated 620,000 casualties on both sides combined. Of those casualties, 360,000 were Union soldiers and 260,000 were Confederate soldiers.