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Richard Cochrane is trained in chemistry and metallurgy but is far more interested and practiced as a political and fund raising consultant, writer and amateur historian. He grew up in a Navy family and with his two younger brothers carried on its 500+ year tradition of naval service to Great Britain and the USA then enjoyed a career with one of the largest advertising and public relations agencies working with numerous Fortune 500 companies and many of America's premier educational institutions. He maintains friendships and acquaintanceships around the world. He lives in Santa Barbara, California.

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Vietnam-by-the-numbers: Surprises Included

October 8th, 2009 • Richard Cochrane
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vietnamOf the 2,709,918 Americans who served in the Vietnam theater of operations, Less than 850,000 are estimated to be alive today, with the youngest American Vietnam veteran’s age approximated to be 54 years old.” 

 

Inevitably everything distills to statistics and the Vietnam conflict is no exception although it may be the source of greater misinformation and disinformation than most.

Consider these numbers for instance:

 

9,087,000 military personnel served on active duty during the Vietnam Era (Aug  5, 1964 - May 7, 1975).2,709,918 Americans served in Vietnam, this number represents 9.7% of their generation. 2,594,000 personnel served within the borders of South Vietnam (Jan. 1, 1965 - March 28, 1973). Of that 2.6 million, between 1-1.6 million (40-60%) either fought in combat, provided close support or were at least fairly regularly exposed to enemy attack. 7,484 women (6,250 or 83.5% were nurses) served in Vietnam.

 

The first man to die in Vietnam was James Davis, in 1958. He was with the 509th Radio Research Station. Davis Station in Saigon was named for him. Non-hostile deaths: 10,800. Total: 58,202 (Includes men formerly classified as MIA and Mayaguez casualties). Men who have subsequently died of wounds account for the changing total.

8 nurses died — 1 was KIA.  61% of the men killed were 21 or younger..

 

25% (648,500) of total forces in country were draftees compared to 66% of U.S. armed forces members were drafted during WWII). Draftees accounted for 30.4% (17,725) of combat deaths in Vietnam.

 

88.4% of the men who actually served in Vietnam were Caucasian; 10.6% (275,000) were black; 1% belonged to other races. 86.3% of the men who died in Vietnam were Caucasian (includes Hispanics); 12.5% (7,241) were black; 1.2% belonged to other races. 170,000 Hispanics served in Vietnam; 3,070 (5.2% of total) died there.

 

Overall, blacks suffered 12.5% of the deaths in Vietnam at a time when the percentage of blacks of military age was 13.5% of the total population. Religion of Dead: Protestant — 64.4%; Catholic — 28.9%; other/none — 6.7%.

 

Vietnam veterans have a lower unemployment rate than the same non-vet age groups.
2. Vietnam veterans’ personal income exceeds that of our non-veteran age group by more than 18 percent.

 

There is no difference in drug usage between Vietnam Veterans and non-Vietnam Veterans of the same age group.  (Source: Veterans Administration Study). Vietnam Veterans are less likely to be in prison - only one-half of one percent of Vietnam Veterans have been jailed for crimes.

 

97% of Vietnam-era veterans were honorably discharged. 91% of actual Vietnam War veterans and 90% of those who saw heavy combat are proud to have served their country.

 

All Americans who deliberately killed civilians received prison sentences while Communists who did so received commendations. From 1957 to 1973, the National Liberation Front assassinated 36,725 Vietnamese and abducted another 58,499. The death squads focused on leaders at the village level and on anyone who improved the lives of the peasants such as medical personnel, social workers, and school teachers.

 

After the U. S. withdrawal as many as 5,000,000 were murdered in Vietnam and neighboring countries. So many were murdered, and those records were suppressed an accurate number is not possible.

 

There Is 1 Response So Far. »

  1. Comment by MarDivPhoto on 9 October 2009:

    The above article is accurate in all its statistics but one- the figure of only 850,000 surviving Viet Nam veterans is entirely false, a myth perpetrated by a phony vet who runs a mythical American War Museum. The official VA figures on surviving vets from the Viet Nam era was 81% still living; the breakdown of those who actually served in Viet Nam is a bit less, since the 58,000 who died there automatically drops the survival rate compared to those who were not there. If the 850,000 figure were correct, it would mean that 69% of all Viet Nam vets were dead, which is clearly not true from both VA records and the general experience of all such vets (like myself) who know that only a minority of the others with whom they served or met later on have died. Why this ridiculous claim was made is unknown, but unfortunately people with official sounding websites do put mistaken, slanted, or simply false data on the Net.

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