United States military casualties of war This article lists the United States of America ' s military dead , wounded , and missing person totals for wars and major deployments . Wars ranked by total number of US military deaths . " Deaths per day " is the total number of US military killed , divided by the number of days between the dates of the commencement and end of hostilities . " Deaths per population " is the total number of US military deaths , divided by the US population of the year indicated . Notes . a . Revolutionary War : All figures from the Revolutionary War are rounded estimates . Commonly cited casualty figures provided by the Department of Defense are 4 , 435 killed and 6 , 188 wounded , although the original government report that generated these numbers warned that the totals were incomplete and far too low . Nevertheless , the numbers are often repeated without this warning , such as on the United States Department of Veteran Affairs website . In 1974 , historian Howard Peckham and a team of researchers came up with a total of 6 , 824 killed in action and 8 , 445 wounded . Because of incomplete records , Peckham estimated that this new total number of killed in action was still about 1 , 000 too low . Military historian John Shy subsequently estimated the total killed in action at 8 , 000 , and argued that the number of wounded was probably far higher , about 25 , 000 . The " other " deaths are primarily from disease , including prisoners who died on British prison ships . b . Other Actions Against Pirates : Includes actions fought in the West Indies , the Greek Isles , off of Louisiana , China and Vietnam . Other deaths resulted from disease and accidents . c . Civil War : All Union casualty figures , and Confederate killed in action , from " The Oxford Companion to American Military History " . Estimate of total Confederate dead from James M . McPherson , " Battle Cry of Freedom " ( Oxford University Press , 1988 ) , 854 . d . World War I figures include expeditions in North Russia and Siberia . See also World War I casualties da . World War II Note : as of March 31 , 1946 there were an estimated 286 , 959 dead of whom 246 , 492 were identified ; of 40 , 467 who were unidentified 18 , 641 were located { 10 , 986 reposed in military cemeteries and 7 , 655 in isolated graves } and 21 , 826 were reported not located . As of April 6 , 1946 there were 539 American Military Cemeteries which contained 241 , 500 dead . Note the American Battle Monuments Commission database for the World War II reports that that in 18 ABMC Cemeteries total of 93 , 238 buried and 78 , 979 missing and that " The World War II database on this web site contains the names of those buried at our cemeteries , or listed as Missing in Action , buried or lost at sea . It does not contain the names of the 233 , 174 Americans returned to the United States for burial . . . " Similarly , the ABMC Records do not cover inter - War deaths such as the Port Chicago disaster in which 320 died . As of November 2 , 2011 Total of US World War II casualties { Military and Civilian } not recovered is 73 , 692 ; total of US World War II Casualties buried at sea are 6 , 061 . After their retreat in 1950 , dead Marines and soldiers were buried at a temporary gravesite near Hungnam , North Korea . During " Operation Glory " which occurred from July to November 1954 the dead of each side were exchanged ; remains of 4 , 167 US soldiers / Marines were exchanged for 13 , 528 North Korean / Chinese dead . After " Operation Glory " 416 Korean War " unknowns " were buried in the Punchbowl Cemetery . According to a DPMO white paper 1 , 394 names were also transmitted during " Operation Glory " from the Chinese and North Koreans { of whom 858 names proved to be correct } ; of the 4 , 167 returned remains were found to be 4 , 219 individuals of whom 2 , 944 were found to be Americans of whom all but 416 were identified by name . Of 239 Korean War unaccounted for : 186 not associated with Punchbowl unknowns { 176 were identified and of the remaining 10 cases 4 were non - Americans of Asiatic descent ; one was British ; 3 were identified and 2 cases unconfirmed } ; Of 10 Korean War " Punchbowl Unknowns " 6 were identified . The W . A . Johnson listing of 496 POWs - including 25 Civilians - who died in North Korea can be found here - and here According to report of June 24 , 2008 at Update on report of July 6 , 2010 at Update of report of October 26 , 2011 at Update of report as of December 21 , 2011 : Listed as MIA : 7 , 973 at ea . Cold War – Korea and Vietnam and Middle East - additional US Casualties : f . Iraq War . See also Casualties of the conflict in Iraq since 2003 . Sources : g . Afghanistan . Casualties include those that occurred in Pakistan , Uzbekistan , Djibouti , Eritrea , Ethiopia , Guantanamo Bay ( Cuba ) , Jordan , Kenya , Kyrgyzstan , Philippines , Seychelles , Sudan , Tajikistan , Turkey , and Yemen . h . Civil War April 2 , 2012 Doctor David Hacker after extensive research offered new casualty rates higher by 20 % ; his work has been accepted by the academic community and is represented here .